Different breast cancers behave in different ways, which necessitates separate treatment guidelines to address the individual characteristics of specific types of cancer. As knowledge evolves, treatment guidelines are updated to reflect up-to-date information about breast cancer. Recently, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) published guidelines on the use of chemotherapy and targeted therapy in the treatment of patients with advanced, HER2 negative breast cancer.

Our understanding of breast cancer is rapidly advancing. Breast cancer is not a single disease entity, but a heterogeneous disease spectrum with numerous genetic alterations involved in its pathogenesis.

The availability of molecular information on breast cancer genomics is rapidly expanding. Patients who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer can easily be overwhelmed by volumes of information in a very short period of time. The good news is that all of the information available is meant to guide personal decisions for cancer management so that we use biology and science for real-life choices. Knowledge is power.