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High Dose Therapy with Stem Cell Support for Breast Cancer: The Jury Is Still Out

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Advances in Breast Cancer Management

Part of the book series: Cancer Treatment and Research ((CTAR,volume 103))

Abstract

The treatment of breast cancer, both in the adjuvant and metastatic setting, has been a story of great success coupled with frustration. For primary breast cancer, a series of randomized controlled trials testing new concepts in the application of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, in both node positive and node negative patients, has produced small but significant improvements in disease-free and overall survival.1–3 Individual trials reported recently have also indicated incremental benefit from the substitution of epirubicin for methotrexate4,5 and the addition of paclitaxel after doxorubicin, plus cyclophosphamide (AC) chemotherapy.6 Nonetheless, subgroups of patients, particularly those with large numbers of positive lymph nodes, appear to derive relatively limited benefit from currently available treatment and in these patients the diagnosis of breast cancer carries a high mortality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center, Canada

    Michael Crump M.D. (Associate Professor of Medicine) & Kathleen Pritchard M.D. (Professor of Medicine)

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  1. Michael Crump M.D.
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  2. Kathleen Pritchard M.D.
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Medical School, 676 North St. Clair Street, Suite 850, 60611-2927, Chicago, IL, USA

    William J. Gradishar M.D. (Associate Professor of Medicine, Director) (Associate Professor of Medicine, Director)

  2. Cancer Center, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Road, N.E., Suite B206, 30322-1104, Atlanta, GA, USA

    William C. Wood M.D. (Joseph Brown Whitehead Professor and Chairman, Clinical Director) (Joseph Brown Whitehead Professor and Chairman, Clinical Director)

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Crump, M., Pritchard, K. (2000). High Dose Therapy with Stem Cell Support for Breast Cancer: The Jury Is Still Out. In: Gradishar, W.J., Wood, W.C. (eds) Advances in Breast Cancer Management. Cancer Treatment and Research, vol 103. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3147-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3147-7_6

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