New technological developments in the diagnosis and surgical management of breast cancer

The last decade has witnessed a tremendous revolution in technological breakthroughs in the diagnosis and management of breast cancer. This was not the case in the 1990’s where the main focus was to establish breast cancer specialists and form multidisciplinary teams, as well as to develop professional guidelines for the management of breast cancer. The challenge now is to explore whether the application of science and new technology can improve our ability to diagnose and treat this disease. In this review article we will summarise the key improvements that have taken place during the last ten years and try to predict what is likely to happen in the near future based on current research programmes.