The term late-breaking is a common phrase used in the media to refer to important news events that may occur after regular programming on television or radio. The 24-hour news networks often interrupt their regular programming with breaking news and alert crawls, such as for severe weather or terrorism. In the past, these types of breaks were typically reserved for extremely urgent events that required immediate attention, such as the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963 or the destruction of a large building by a tornado.
The implication is that the majority of other news events are not as pressing or critical and therefore should not merit an interruption to normal programming. While there is certainly a valid rationale for this, it is worth asking whether the pendulum has perhaps overswung to the extent that the Late Breakers receive excessive hype and distract from the many clinically important original research studies that are presented at the meeting.
The primary criteria for an abstract to be considered late-breaking is that it report data that became available after the deadline for regular abstract submission and have not been previously published or presented. The data must also be novel (not just a repeat of previous work). This category does not include phase 2/3 trials or laboratory-based research, and authors must provide strong justification for the study to be included in this category. The selection process for late-breaking abstracts adheres to these criteria strictly.