Women's Health Medicine
Volume 3, Issue 1 , Pages 36-39, January 2006

Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer

Helen M Sweetland FRCS is a Consultant Breast Surgeon and Reader in Surgery at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK. She qualified from Sheffield University and trained in general and breast surgery in Sheffield.

Article Outline

Abstract 

Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, a rapidly changing area of management, has made the difference to the breast cancer mortality figures over the last ten years. Initial treatments used hormonal manipulation such as ovarian ablation. This was followed by the development of tamoxifen, an oestrogen receptor antagonist. This has been followed by other hormonal regimes such as aromatase inhibitors, which have been used initially in the metastatic setting but are now being transferred to the adjuvant setting for post-menopausal women. Chemotherapy is used routinely for many breast cancers and is now well tolerated. Newer treatments include the use of taxanes and an antibody against HER-2 receptors; both of these are currently being evaluated in the adjuvant setting. Radiotherapy is a local adjuvant treatment that is given after breast conservation treatment surgery and in some cases is required after a mastectomy to decrease the risk of local recurrence.

Keywords:  breast disorders , adjuvant chemotherapy , aromatase inhibition , radiotherapy , tamoxifen , taxanes , trastuzumab

No full text is available. To read the body of this article, please view the PDF online.

 

Back to Article Outline

REFERENCES 

  1. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group . Ovarian ablation in early breast cancer: overview of the randomised trials . Lancet . 1996;348:1189–1196
  2. Kaufmann M , Jonat W , Blamey R , et al.   Survival analyses from the ZEBRA study: goserelin (Zoladex) versus CMF in premenopausal women with node-positive breast cancer . Eur J Cancer . 2003;39:1711–1717
  3. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group . Tamoxifen for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomised trials . Lancet . 1998;351:1451–1467
  4. Howell A , Cuzick J , Baum M , et al.   Results of the ATAC (Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination) trial after completion of 5 years’ adjuvant treatment for breast cancer . Lancet . 2005;365:60–62
  5. Bonadonna G , Brusamolino E , Valagussa P , et al.   Combination chemotherapy as an adjuvant treatment in operable breast cancer . N Engl J Med . 1976;294:405–410
  6. Fisher B , Carbone P , Economou SG , et al.   1-Phenylalanine mustard (L-PAM) in the management of primary breast cancer. A report of early findings . N Engl J Med . 1975;292:117–122
  7. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group . Polychemotherapy for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomised trials . Lancet . 1998;352:930–942
  8. Fisher B , Bryant J , Wolmark N , et al.   The effect of preoperative chemotherapy on the outcome of women with operable breast cancer . J Clin Oncol . 1998;16:2672–2685
  9. Piccart-Gebhart MJ , Procter M , Leyland-Jones B , et al.   Trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in HER-2 positive breast cancer . N Engl J Med . 2005;353:1659–1672
  10. Romond EH , Perez EA , Bryant J , et al.   Trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for operable HER-2 positive breast cancer . N Engl J Med . 2005;353:1673–1684
  11. Darby S , McGale P , Peto R , et al.   Mortality from cardiovascular disease more than 10 years after radiotherapy for breast cancer: nationwide cohort study of 90,000 Swedish women . BMJ . 2003;326:256–257

PII: S1744-1870(06)00124-7

doi:10.1383/wohm.2006.3.1.36

Women's Health Medicine
Volume 3, Issue 1 , Pages 36-39, January 2006

Article Tools