Each year, the SABCS Program Planning Committee assembles a robust program representing the latest research and the most important topics in breast cancer and premalignant breast disease, and this year is no exception. SABCS Meeting News talked to members of the Program Planning Committee about why they attend SABCS and what they are most looking forward to this year.

Here, committee members Andrea V. Barrio, MD, FACS, and Kalliopi P. Siziopikou, MD, PhD, talk about the value of SABCS and why you will not want to miss this year’s meeting. Stay tuned to SABCS Meeting News for more highlights from members of the Program Committee along with ongoing news, updates, and important information on SABCS 2022.

What do you expect will be some of the most talked-about topics at SABCS 2022?

Dr. Barrio: From a surgical perspective, important ongoing topics include long-term outcomes in node-positive patients who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy and are then treated with limited nodal surgery. In addition, data demonstrating improved outcomes in breast conservation therapy compared to mastectomy continues to gain traction, and it will be important to see additional data on this topic.

Dr. Siziopikou: As a member of the SABCS Program Committee and the Pathology Panel Chair, we strive to showcase cutting-edge research by pathologists that is crucial in pushing the field forward. This year’s program includes a number of sessions and presentations highlighting the central role that breast pathology plays for expert state-of-art diagnosis, breast tumor marker evaluation, and use of molecular diagnostics in breast cancer.

What are you most looking forward to at SABCS 2022?

Dr. Barrio: I always look forward to the podium presentations and learning about practice-changing trials, as well as the poster spotlight sessions highlighting the best submitted abstracts.  This year, I am looking forward to the “Clinical Controversies” session, specifically the discussion on nodal clipping (To Clip or Not to Clip), the session on “Challenging Types of Breast Cancer,” and “View from the Trenches–What Will You Do Morning” as this session brings together the most important data from meeting and discusses how it should be applied in a real-world clinical setting.

SABCS is one of the largest and most educational breast cancer meetings of the year, bringing together people across multiple disciplines and from different parts of the world. The content is exceptional, and the research presented is instantly practice changing — SABCS is absolutely my favorite meeting of the year!

Dr. Siziopikou: This year, I am looking forward to a number of highly informative breast pathology presentations, including the latest on the proliferation marker Ki-67 during the “Translational Controversies” session, the “Challenging Types of Breast Cancer” session, which will include a discussion of the pathologic aspects involved, and a presentation on multiplex spatial proteomic profiling during the Educational Session “Spatial and Single Cell Characterization of Breast Cancer Progression. I’m also looking forward to the Educational Session “Advances in Pregnancy Associated Breast Cancer (PABC),” which I will be chairing and presenting important updates in the pathology of PABC.

Finally, sessions such as the “Clinical Case Discussion,” the “Molecular Tumor Board” and “View from the Trenches: What Will You Do Monday Morning” also provide powerful platforms for breast pathology participation and expert contribution to the state-of-art care of our breast cancer patients.

---

Dr. Barrio is Associate Attending Breast Surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Dr. Siziopikou is Professor of Pathology and Director of Breast Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chicago.