[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 25, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 63876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-27357]


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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 
[email protected]. 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