Updated Breast Cancer Resources and Events from NCCN Keep Patients and Doctors Worldwide Informed during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

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National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Oct 15, 2018, 09:45 ET

Latest metastatic breast cancer treatment options to be explained in webinar for patients and loved ones, corresponding with updated patient guidelines, on October 22 and 29

New NCCN Framework™ outlines recommendations for breast cancer screening and diagnosis for low- and middle-income countries and new NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ include treatment recommendations for optimal management of breast cancer in the Caribbean

Global Summit on International Breast Health and Cancer Control, hosted by NCCN and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, begins today

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®), a nonprofit alliance of 27 top academic cancer centers across the United States, offers new and updated resources to help inform people with breast cancer, caregivers, and clinicians worldwide about the latest advances in care.

"New and important research is being conducted every day to explore how we can improve the lives of people with breast cancer," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. In addition to helming NCCN, Dr. Carlson is also a leading breast cancer oncologist, currently practicing at Fox Chase Cancer Center after many years with the Stanford Cancer Institute. "Our expert panels study and debate any new findings and drug approvals before updating the NCCN Guidelines. Those updates are then put into non-medical terms in our NCCN Guidelines for Patients, to make sure people with cancer can know what their doctors know."

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines^®) for Breast Cancer was most recently updated on October 5, 2018, as was the NCCN Guidelines for Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients^®: Breast Cancer has also been updated, and split into three separate volumes for 2018: Noninvasive, Invasive (soon-to-be published), and Metastatic.

Free Webinars for Patients + Continuing Medical Education

For patients and caregivers looking to learn more about the treatment options, goals, and decisions for metastatic breast cancer, NCCN is offering two free webinars, with a chance to ask questions directly to the experts. These webinars are supported through the NCCN Foundation^®.

Topics include:

How to let your doctor know about your personal history, priorities, and concerns
How to classify different variations of metastatic breast cancer
Which treatment options apply to various types of metastatic breast cancer
What new research is being conducted now
How to manage assorted side effects from treatment
Tips for dealing with the potential financial difficulties that can arise from cancer care

When:

Presenters:

Karen Lisa Smith, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Oncology, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
Lillie D. Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, ONN-CG, University Distinguished Service Professor of Breast Cancer, Professor of Surgery and Oncology, JHU School of Medicine, Adm Director, Johns Hopkins Breast Center

Visit NCCN.org/patientwebinars to learn more.

NCCN also currently has several free continuing education webinars on breast cancer available for clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other providers.

Topics include:

Participants are eligible for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, ABIM MOC points, ANCC contact hours, ACPE contact hours, and CCM clock hours. Visit education.nccn.org to view the full course catalog.

Global Resources — Locally Tailored

NCCN recognizes that treatment approaches can vary in different settings, depending on available resources. To make the NCCN Guidelines as accessible as possible, the organization has published more than 160 Adaptations and Translations of the NCCN Guidelines in 11 different languages. There are NCCN Framework for Resource Stratification of NCCN Guidelines (NCCN Framework™) for 19 different areas of care, including a new one for breast cancer screening and diagnosis added this year. The goal of the NCCN Framework™ is to define appropriate treatment pathways based on available resources—Basic, Core, Enhanced, and NCCN Guidelines—and deliver a tool for health care providers to identify treatment options that will provide the best possible outcomes given specific resource constraints.

NCCN is also working with the Caribbean Association for Oncology & Hematology (CAOH) to create NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ for the Caribbean. The newly published NCCN Harmonized Guidelines^™for the Caribbean: Breast Cancer adapts the recommendations from NCCN Guidelines and NCCN Framework™ for both the optimal care that these regions aspire to provide and pragmatic approaches that provide effective treatment options for resource-constrained settings. NCCN previously teamed up with the African Cancer Coalition to create the NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ for Sub-Saharan Africa, which include breast cancer among other top-occurring cancers. Additional NCCN Harmonized Guidelines^TM for Sub-Saharan Africa will be published later this year.

All of the NCCN Guidelines, NCCN Framework™, NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™, Adaptations, and Translations are available free-of-charge for non-commercial use online at NCCN.org or via the Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines^® App.

To learn more about NCCN's work across the world, visit NCCN.org/global, and join the conversation online with the hashtag #NCCNGlobal.

Live Meetings and Events

The Global Summit on International Breast Health and Cancer Control: Improving Breast Health Care through Resource-Stratified Phased Implementation kicks off today in Seattle, Washington. The three-day summit, is hosted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The event is part of a collaboration between NCCN and The Breast Health Global Initiation to develop systematic, evidence-based implementation frameworks for translating resource-stratified guidelines into practice.

Later this week, NCCN will participate in the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress, and host an NCCN Global Academy for Excellence & Leadership in Oncology™.

Registration is also open for the NCCN 2019 Congress: Breast Cancer, which will take place on February 8, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois.

"We're glad to be able to offer so many different options for information about breast cancer, not just during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but year round," said Dr. Carlson. "Better-informed patients and doctors leads to better outcomes for everybody."

About the NCCN Foundation
The NCCN Foundation^® was founded by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) to empower people with cancer and advance oncology innovation. The NCCN Foundation empowers people with cancer and their caregivers by delivering unbiased expert guidance from the world's leading cancer experts through the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients^® and other patient education resources. The NCCN Foundation is also committed to advancing cancer treatment by funding the nation's promising young investigators at the forefront of cancer research. For more information about the NCCN Foundation, visit NCCN.org/patients.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.