Surgeons attending the 11th annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons were perplexed by the reversal of the trend away from mastectomy and toward breast-conserving therapies. Advanced breast-conserving products were presented at the meeting; but with lowered revenue expectations that can ultimately be attributed to the economic woes of the past couple of years. High unemployment and the lack of health care coverage have prompted many women to delay or forego their yearly mammogram, and as a result, the numbers of biopsies, surgeries, and radiation therapy procedures have declined as well.

As the use of breast conserving lumpectomy expands as a treatment for early-stage breast cancer, interest has surged in alternatives to whole breast irradiation. Follow-on radiation treatment is crucial to the success of this therapy, but a significant number of women are either unable or unwilling to undergo the typical treatment course involving five to seven weeks of daily radiation therapy. The device industry is responding with technologies aimed at delivering post-lumpectomy radiation therapy in a more convenient, potentially safer way.

Advances in breast cancer screening are making earlier detection the norm, but biopsy devices are progressing as well. Emerging technologies, along with a number of new oncolytic drugs, will add add to the growing treatment armamentarium for breast cancer.