NCCN Updates Treatment Recommendations Based on Emerging Evidence

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is updating cancer treatment practices listed in the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines ). These updates—along with the supporting evidence—will be presented during the NCCN 2024 Annual Conference held in Orlando, FL April 5-7, and simultaneously online.

The evidence-based expert consensus recommendations are the most frequently updated guidelines for any area of medicine and are used by cancer care providers worldwide to stay up to date on innovations. Recently, the alliance of leading cancer centers published updated versions for several high-incidence cancer types, including breast, colorectal, lung, and pancreatic.

“The pace of progress in cancer care is accelerating. The multidisciplinary panels of experts who maintain the NCCN Guidelines work diligently year-round to make sure these resources remain up to date with the most relevant information for the busy clinicians who use them,” said Crystal S. Denlinger, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. “At our upcoming conference, attendees will learn about all the latest updates directly from the experts behind them, while gaining a better understanding of the underlying evidence supporting these updated recommendations.”

Some recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines recommendations include:

• Updates to treatment of HR-positive, early-stage breast cancer, including a new page outlining the general principles for adjuvant endocrine therapy.
• Recommendation for considering POLE/POLD1 mutation testing for checkpoint inhibitor therapy for colon and rectal cancer.
• Addition of a new perioperative immunotherapy option for resectable non-small cell lung cancer. New chemotherapy options for first-line therapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Changes to the Principles of Pathology for bladder cancer, based on the 2022 WHO Classification of Tumors of the Urinary Tract.
• Revisions to the Hereditary RCC Syndromes Overview for kidney cancer.

Every recent practice improvement contained within the NCCN Guidelines can be viewed at NCCN.org/guidelines/recently-published-updates.