The influence of angiogenesis research on management of patients with breast cancer.

The diagnosis and treatment of patients with breast cancer is beginning to be influenced by new ideas and discoveries emerging from the field of angiogenesis research. This field, pursued in the laboratory for more than 20 years, has in the past 5 years generated clinical applications. Some of these applications have begun to change current thinking about cancer patients and especially about those with breast cancer. I here discuss how an understanding of the process of angiogenesis may contribute to improved management of patients with breast cancer.