As early as 2006, the World Health Organization proposed that cancer should be managed according to the model of chronic disease management, and the concept of “chronic disease management” is very suitable for the total management of advanced breast cancer patients. The concept of “whole course management” tells us that we should apply reasonable measures as early as possible to control the patient’s symptoms. We need to let patients benefit from a long-term, high quality of life, which is actually close to the goal of prolonging survival. In fact, the concept of categorization was formally introduced at the St. Gallen Conference in 2011, and breast cancer can be divided into at least four major subtypes for categorized treatment. With the development of our technical and clinical research, it was found that breast cancer is not an organ disease but a group of genetic diseases. Since breast cancer is a group of genetic diseases, the differences in molecular biology due to different gene expression are manifested in differences in prognosis and response to treatment. The reason for this is that we are targeting different targets in treatment, so the introduction of categorical therapy as a new concept is an epoch-making progress. Now, according to the four immunohistochemical indicators, researchers have classified breast cancer into four basic subtypes. Among the four basic subtypes, Luminal A, for example, is highly sensitive to endocrine therapy for breast cancer, and endocrine therapy occupies a rather important position. As for HER2-positive breast cancer, the target is HER2 protein, so anti-HER2 therapy targeting HER2 protein is very important. For triple negative breast cancer, there is no specific target for this type of cancer, and targeted therapy for triple negative breast cancer is in a kind of exploratory stage, and the real benefit is from chemotherapy, so we advocate chemotherapy for triple negative breast cancer, and chemotherapy maintenance therapy is also very important in the follow-up. Therefore, at this point in time, categorical treatment is not the most complete categorical treatment system. The ultimate maturity of breast cancer classification treatment is pending the genome-wide results of the scientists to classify breast cancer into different subtypes, and we are looking forward to the introduction of new and more scientific classification treatment standards. Therefore, the prospect of finding more targeted categorical therapies is more promising in the future. Two basic elements of breast cancer treatment: categorical treatment + total management At present, the concept of total management has been deeply rooted in people’s mind, and breast cancer treatment actually covers two basic elements, one is categorical treatment and the other is total management. Therefore, for patients with breast cancer, especially those with advanced breast cancer, the concept of categorical treatment + total management should be applied throughout the treatment. Then when to start maintenance treatment is a point of time that needs to be mastered. My personal opinion is that it is very important to consolidate the gains made by the previous treatment with a less toxic or even non-toxic treatment based on the effective benefit of the previous treatment, so that the patient’s survival can be prolonged. But why is it “easier said than done”? Because the time point varies from patient to patient and the responsiveness to treatment varies from patient to patient. Therefore, the search for such a point in time requires a refinement of individualized treatment. That is, to select the appropriate maintenance therapy for patients with different classifications and different treatment response sensitivity. For example, a patient with Luminal A may be found to benefit from endocrine therapy during the course of treatment, so endocrine therapy will be the mainstay of the follow-up treatment, and second-line endocrine therapy will be activated after the failure of first-line therapy, and third-line endocrine therapy will be activated after the failure of second-line endocrine therapy. When chemotherapy is ineffective, or when the toxicity is intolerable, it is still possible to switch back to endocrine maintenance therapy in time. HER2-positive breast cancer. The rationale is the same, that is, building on the benefit of previous anti-HER2 therapy, choosing a milder treatment, such as endocrine therapy, or a less toxic chemotherapy, in combination with targeted therapy or maintenance, can lead to long-term benefits for the patient. Triple negative breast cancer This type of breast cancer has no target at present and is mainly based on chemotherapy, which inevitably produces intolerable toxicity in long-term treatment. Therefore, for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, on one hand, we should actively search for new targets, and on the other hand, we should try to select a drug that is convenient to use, less toxic and has guaranteed efficacy for maintenance treatment. In short, the concept of individualization is to find a regimen that is sensitive to the chosen treatment, tolerable in terms of toxicity, and beneficial to the patient. Maintenance therapy is managed on an individualized basis, using a “tailored” maintenance concept. At any stage of the management process (e.g., when a patient has an adverse reaction that is intolerable), we introduce the concept of “drug holidays,” i.e., when a patient is intolerable, physicians take the initiative to discontinue the drug to allow the patient to rest and recover, or to discontinue the more toxic drug and replace it with a less toxic drug. In other words, when the patient is intolerant, the physicians can stop the drug to allow the patient to rest and recover, or stop the more toxic drug and replace it with a less toxic drug to continue the maintenance treatment, or even have an interval of drug discontinuation to continue the previous treatment plan when the patient’s toxicity and physical condition recover to a better state. Therefore, the process of total management – individualized “tailoring” and the introduction of the concept of “drug holidays” – is a very important factor in the success and failure of total management.