Today, breast cancer has actually become merely an umbrella term that encompasses several cancers with different types of genesis, different genomic and phenotypic characteristics, different needs for systemic treatment and different prognosis. Early diagnosis and good multidisciplinary cooperation, choice of a proper treatment sequence, good supportive treatment and psychological support of the patient are crucial for a therapeutic success. The surgeon plays an important role in the treatment plan of patients with breast cancer; nevertheless, breast cancer is a systemic disease and thus as a rule, surgery alone is usually not sufficient to manage even early stages of the tumor. Surgeons as members of a multidisciplinary team need to know basic information on systemic treatment of breast cancer and have an understanding of how oncologists think; only then it will possible to achieve multidisciplinary consensus as painlessly as possible in each individual case.
Keywords: breast cancer − oncological systemic therapy; staging; staging − early breast cancer − metastatic breast cancer.