Asia Breast Cancer Collaborative Group Meeting 2010

Guangzhou, China — 4-5 September 2010

I was invited as a speaker and co-chair for this conference by Prof Renbin Liu, who is the Chair of the Asia Breast Cancer Collaborative Group and Director of Breast Cancer Center at The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. The meeting featured prominent speakers and participants from different countries in Asia including, China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and the United States. The discussion topics ranged from making breast cancer surgery less invasive to adjuvant and chemotherapy treatments. There was also discussion on epidemiology of young breast cancer patients in Asia, clinical trials and cancer patients who might have be mutation carriers of susceptibility genes.

We had an interactive time and discussion of how breast cancer in Asia might be different from the west. For example, our colleagues in Korea and Taiwan pointed out their statistics showing younger onset of breast cancer, often below 50 years which is similar to what we see in Singapore. Oncology practice is Asia is also limited by other considerations such as availability of drugs, and sociocultural issues.
By Dr. Peter Ang

Breast Cancer Systemic Therapy for BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation carriers
(Some slides have been edited before being placed on our site)