Chemotherapy in early breast cancer

I confess to having had the suspicion that adjuvant chemotherapy was being
used too readily
in early breast cancer in some quarters, especially in the US. I was
wrong.

A recently published meta-analysis of fifteen year results published in the
Lancet
shows that -

"Allocation to about 6 months of anthracycline-based polychemotherapy (eg,
with FAC or FEC) reduces the annual breast cancer death rate by about 38%
(SE 5) for women younger than 50 years of age when diagnosed and by about
20% (SE 4) for those of age 50-69 years when diagnosed, largely irrespective
of the use of tamoxifen and of oestrogen receptor (ER) status, nodal status,
or other tumour characteristics."

Effects of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for early breast cancer on
recurrence and 15-year survival: an overview of the randomised trials M
Clarke, R Collins, S Darby, C Davies, et al. The Lancet. London: May 14-May
20, 2005.Vol.365, Iss. 9472; pg. 1687

Peter Moran


Peter Moran


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