Guidelines for management of breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer remains a common and frequently fatal disease, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer death in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Improved treatment practice has the potential to improve survival by up to 15%. Furthermore, congruence of treatment practice with published guidelines has been directly associated with improved patient survival. Enhanced implementation of soundly developed, evidence-based treatment guidelines is therefore an important goal for health services and individual clinicians. These guidelines have been developed to assist clinicians and patients to make decisions about treatment and thus improve health outcomes. They are intended to benefit oncologists, internists, secondary and tertiary hospitals, ministries of health and other health decision-makers in the Region. They provide the information necessary for decision-making by health care providers and patients themselves about the management of breast cancer