The Lucerne Toolbox 2
July 26, 2023
On 18/7/2023, the results of the consensus of leading scientists, representatives from the largest scientific companies from around the world, on optimizing the management of the axilla in early breast cancer were published in the prestigious journal eclinical medicine of The Lancet group.
This specific project was named The Lucerne Toolbox 2, as the scientific meetings were held in Lucerne, Switzerland, with the aim of achieving a scientifically documented agreement to provide recommendations regarding the optimal management of the axilla in early breast cancer.
The challenges of clinical management of axillary lymph nodes, from diagnosis to local treatment of the axilla, were reviewed. Based on the scientists’ votes, targeted imaging and lymph node pathology should be a prerequisite for planning local and systemic treatment, axillary lymph node dissection can be replaced by sentinel lymph node biopsy (± targeted approaches) in the majority of scenarios. These encouraging results for patients are driven by both low recurrence risks and low rates of lymphedema.
Overall, the Lucerne Toolbox 2 Consensus on the management of the axilla in early breast cancer allows for tailoring the management approach to specific clinical scenarios based on expert opinion and consensus agreement.
Through the interdisciplinary approach, excellence in care can be ensured for the benefit of our patients. The recommendations are likely to be useful to a wide range of individual patients and concern the entire interdisciplinary team.
Dr. Fiorita Poulakaki – Breast Surgeon MD,PhD,FEBS, CEBS Director of the Breast Clinic, Athens Medical Center is one of the authors of the article, proving once again that the Medical Group remains at the forefront of scientific developments.
