Update in cancer chemotherapy: general considerations and breast cancer, Part I.

A general review of the current use of cancer chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of common types of cancer and an update of the state of the art of chemotherapeutic treatment of the late and early stages of breast cancer in 1984 are described. Since the introduction of effective cancer chemotherapy, important progress has been made in the control of cancer of the breast. Of the common tumors, breast cancer is the most responsive to a wide variety of cancer chemotherapeutic agents.In this two-part paper, Part I reviews the use of hormone therapy in the treatment of breast cancer; Part II, which will be published in a subsequent issue of the journal, will describe the use of nonhormonal treatment.