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Purpose: Perioperative cognitive dysfunction can be observed in all age groups of patients. Sometimes, this is more stressful to the patient than the actual surgical wound. Enhanced recovery after surgery pathways screen for patients at risk and lead to early post-surgical intervention. To prevent cognitive dysfunction, a prehabilitation approach might be useful., Methods: This systematic literature review provides an overview on the current knowledge on prehabilitation for cognitive dysfunction for gynaecological patients by searching the National Library of Medicine (PubMed) in February 2020 to identify publications regarding presurgical cognitive training with three different search terms., Results: 501 articles were identified and after screening for eligibility five were left for further analysis. Generally, cognitive function is split into several cognitive aspects like anxiety or memory, speed, attention, flexibility or problem-solving functions. Each of these aspects can/need to be trained to show an improvement after general anaesthesia. Training possibilities range from relaxation methods via music, one-on-one personal training sessions to electronically supported training units., Conclusion: Prehabilitation of the cognitive function can be split in different cognitive domains. Each of these domains seem to be influenced by training. The training itself can be based on applications or known relaxation methods or even old-fashioned board games. The evidence is, however, still low and there is a need for further studies., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

In 2004, circulating tumor cells (CTC) enumeration by the CellSearch® technique at baseline and during treatment was reported to be associated with prognosis in metastatic breast cancer patients. In 2008, the first evidence of the impact of CTC detection by this technique on survival of cM0(i+) patients were reported. These findings were confirmed by other non-interventional studies, whereas CTC were also investigated as a surrogate for tumor biology, mainly for HER2 expression/amplification. The aim of this report is to present the current prospective large interventional studies that have been specifically designed to demonstrate that CTC enumeration/characterization may improve the management of breast cancer patients: STIC CTC METABREAST (France) and Endocrine Therapy Index (USA) assess the CTC-guided hormone therapy vs chemotherapy decision in M1 patients; SWOG0500 (USA) and CirCe01 (France) assess the CTC count changes during treatment in metastatic patients; DETECT III (M1 patients, Germany) and Treat CTC (cM0(i+) patients, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer/Breast International Group) assess the use of anti-HER2 treatments in HER2-negative breast cancer patients selected on the basis of CTC detection/characterization. These trials have different designs in various patient populations but are expected to be the pivotal trials for CTC implementation in the routine management of breast cancer patients.