Selecting chemotherapy schedules for adjuvant treatment of early stage breast cancer, what is the rationale behind?

• Published in: Reviews in clinical medicine Vol. 2; no. 3; pp. 129 - 134
• Main Authors: Roham Salek, Narges Bayat Mokhtari, Soudabeh Shahidsales
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 01-07-2015
• Subjects: adjuvant treatment; chemotherapy schedules; early stage breast cancer
• ISSN: 2345-6256; 2345-6892
• DOI: 10.17463/RCM.2015.03.005

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers that oncologists are faced with in their clinics. The varieties of clinical features of the disease result to very different scenarios in the processes of treatment decision making. While classic factors of stage, grade, age and hormone receptor status are still the criterion for choosing treatment, a very delicate list of other prognostic and predictive factors have been entered to this field over recent two decades. The evidence-based medicine rules to treat patients based on the best evidences that have been found by powered randomized clinical trials. Different panels and guidelines gathering these evidences try to help oncologists to find the best treatment methods through the variable and sometimes contradicting results. As it is always the main objective, increasing the survival rates in addition to the ideal aim of curing the disease is usually the target.  Finding the best and the most practical chemotherapy regimen against breast cancer needs to notice the biology of this disease and its varieties along with each individual patient condition. It is clear that not all patients need the most complicated and expensive treatment.