Chemotherapy in the treatment strategy of breast cancer.

Although breast cancer presents as localized disease and is treated with local modalities, i.e. surgery and radiotherapy, patients die with metastatic disease. For patients with positive nodes, the recurrence rates are well known. It is this group of patients who should receive more aggressive treatment. Chemotherapeutic regimens are available that cause responses in patients with advanced disease in the range of 20% to 65%, with about 15% complete responses The current paper deals with the application of several chemotherapeutic regimens at the time of surgery in those patients at high risk. The preliminary results indicate a significant decrease in the recurrence rates. Additional studies combining chemotherapy and hormonal procedures are mentioned.