Nachsorge beim Mammakarzinom – endlich Bewegung?

The follow-up care after curative primary treatment is a central component for patients with breast cancer and has remained unchanged in routine practice for many years. Measures for the early detection of asymptomatic distant metastases are not recommended, so that distant metastases are often detected incidentally or if patients experience specific symptoms; however, the diagnostic and treatment realities of the twenty-first century have surpassed the current standard of follow-up care. According to the first published studies, liquid biopsies offer a reliable and relatively easy method for detecting and monitoring minimal residual disease, which would enable early therapeutic intervention with effective new substances, long before patients experience symptoms of recurrent disease. Unfortunately, large prospective studies that could enable a change in the practice of follow-up care of breast cancer are entirely lacking. The SURVIVE study aims to fill this gap.