[Federal Register: October 25, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 207)]
[Notices]
[Page 63876]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25oc00-98]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
Consensus Development Conference on Adjuvant Therapy for Breast
Cancer
Notice is hereby given of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Consensus Development Conference on ``Adjuvant Therapy for Breast
Cancer,'' which will be held November 1-3, 2000, in the NIH's Natcher
Conference Center, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. The
conference begins at 8:00 am on November 1 and 2, and at 9:00 am on
November 3 and is open to the public.
Each year, more than 180,000 women in the United States are
diagnosed with breast cancer, the most common type of non-skin cancer
among women in this country. Through continuing research into new
treatment methods, women with breast cancer now have more effective
treatment options than ever before. Studies have shown that adjuvant
therapy--treatment to kill cancer cells that may have begun to spread,
or metastasize, from the breast tumor--given in addition to surgery or
other primary therapies increases a woman's chance of long-term
survival.
Two types of systemic adjuvant therapy, either alone or in
combination, are used for breast cancer. Adjuvant chemotherapy involves
a combination of anticancer drugs. Adjuvant hormone therapy deprives
cancer cells of the female hormone estrogen, which some breast cancer
cells need to grow. In addition to these systemic therapies, radiation
therapy is sometimes used as a local adjuvant treatment to help destroy
breast cancer cells that have spread to nearby tissues.
The rapid pace of discovery in this area continues to broaden the
knowledge base from which informed treatment decisions can be made. The
purpose of this conference is to clarify, for clinicians, patients, and
the general public, various issues regarding the use of adjuvant
therapy for breast cancer. After 1\1/2\ days of presentations and
audience discussion of the latest adjuvant therapy research, an
independent, non-Federal consensus development panel will weigh the
scientific evidence and draft a statement that will be presented to the
conference audience on the third day. The consensus development panel's
statement will address the following key questions:
Which factors should be used to select systemic adjuvant therapy?
For which patients should adjuvant hormonal therapy be recommended?
For which patients should adjuvant chemotherapy be recommended? Which
agents should be used and at what dose or schedule?
For which patients should postmastectomy radiotherapy be recommended?
How do side effects and quality-of-life issues factor into individual
decision-making about adjuvant therapy?
What are promising new research directions for adjuvant therapy?
On the final day of the conference, the panel's draft statement
will be read in public, at which time members of the public are invited
to offer comments on the draft.
The primary sponsors of this meeting are the National Cancer
Institute and the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research.
Cosponsors include the National Institute of Nursing Research and the
NIH Office of Research on Women's Health.
This is the 114th Consensus Development Conference held by the NIH
in the 23-year history of the Consensus Development Program. Advance
information about the conference and conference registration materials
may be obtained from Prospect Associates of Silver Spring, Maryland, by
calling (301) 592-3320 or by sending e-mail to
breastcancer@prospectassoc.com. Prospect Associates' address is 10720
Columbia Pike, Suite 500, Silver Spring, Maryland 20901-4437. A
conference agenda and registration information is also available on the
NIH Consensus Program Web site at http://consensus.nih.gov.
Dated: October 13, 2000.
Ruth L. Kirschstein,
Principal Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 00-27357 Filed 10-24-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P