Synthesis of clinical practice guidelines and recommendations for breast cancer survivorship care: a systematic review
In brief
Review of 21 guidelines distills breast cancer survivorship care into three core topics
An analysis of 21 clinical practice guidelines identified three unified areas-risk of recurrence, monitoring for new cancers, and fertility/reproductive/endocrine/sexual health-supported by care coordination. The authors suggest this simplified framework could make survivorship care easier to deliver in primary-care settings, but it still needs real-world testing.
- Journal
- Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (Q1)
- Published
- 23 July 2026
- Study design
- Practice guideline / consensus
- Evidence level
- Level 1, High (CEBM 1c)
- Authors
- Allison Brandt Anbari, Linda Anderson, Rebecca Graves, Elizabeth A Anderson, Jennifer M Hulett
- PMID
- 42487025
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00520-026-11006-0
Why clinicians should know about it
- Picked for Reproductive Medicine (top studies of the week, 26 July 2026).
Abstract
PURPOSE: Breast cancer survivorship care is complex and not always provided according to standards or guidelines. Likewise, current cancer survivorship care interventions and programming do not always underscore clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in the same fashion as interventions for other conditions. A call for improvement in breast cancer survivorship care warrants re-evaluation of current breast cancer survivorship care CPGs. The purpose of this systematic review was to (1) characterize CPGs that include content clinically relevant to people with a history of breast cancer and (2) appraise the possibility of consolidating current CPGs to simplified topics to be presented as a potentially clinically applicable model of breast cancer survivorship care (PROSPERO CRD42024591381). METHODS: We conducted searches within six databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, PsycINFO, Cochrane DSR, and Cochrane Central), and in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, ClinicalTrials.gov, and FigShare, Google, Google Scholar, and Bing. We located 3041 records to be screened and 191 records for full-text screening. Based on inclusion criteria considering clinical relevance to people with a history of breast cancer and AGREE II assessments, 21 records were included. We developed a codebook using the NCCN guidelines for cancer survivorship care. RESULTS: Areas of concordance were identified as three consolidated topics: risk for recurrence, monitoring for new cancer, and fertility, reproductive, endocrine, and sexual health. These are underpinned by care coordination. Topics include main ideas derived from NCCN guidelines. We labeled each recommendation with main ideas that are more succinct, yet still inclusive/indicative of the full array of CPGs. CONCLUSION: We propose consideration and testing of our consolidated breast cancer survivorship care topics and main ideas. We hypothesize that our model could simplify breast cancer survivorship care provision in primary care settings.
Abstract as published, via PubMed.
For healthcare professionals. The summary is generated by AI from the published abstract, and the evidence level is assigned automatically from the study design on the Oxford CEBM hierarchy. Neither is medical advice. Read the full paper before changing practice.