PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES FOR SURGEONS - MANAGEMENT OF SYMPTOMATIC BREAST-CANCER - ON BEHALF OF THE EUROPEAN-SOCIETY OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY

The European Society of Surgical Oncology is actively involved in the promotion of a high standard of surgical oncology throughout Europe. S uch an ambition involves recognition of Centres of Excellence in the m anagement of cancer patients throughout Europe. These centres have a m ulti-disciplinary system involved in the total care of patients with c ancer and are concerned with the delivery of care to the highest avail able standards. It is accepted that not all patients with cancer can, nor should, necessarily be treated in such highly specialized centres. Yet all cancer patients should be guaranteed a high standard of care. High surgical standards can be ensured if surgeons treating cancer ar e trained in specialist centres and, when in independent practice, fol low established guidelines or protocols of treatment. In common with m any national surgical oncology societies, the European Society of Surg ical Oncology is in the process of establishing good practice guidelin es in the treatment of solid tumours. This document on the management of symptomatic breast cancer is the first of a series of guidelines to be proposed by ESSO. It draws heavily on excellent documents already in existence from the British Association of Surgical Oncology and fro m the Danish Breast Cancer Co-Operative Group. It is hoped that this d ocument will be sufficiently clear and purposeful to be of help to the individual surgeon and yet sufficiently flexible to allow it to be ad opted in the different medical systems throughout Europe.