Abstract
Recent results have confirmed that adjuvant systemic therapies increase the relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients with resectable breast cancer (Bonadonna and Valagussa 1988; Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group 1988). Most of the available adjuvant results at 5 or more years are based on prospective trials designed for node-positive (N +) patients. For many years, the reluctance of research physicians to mount adjuvant trials on node-negative (N -) women was due to the uncertainty about reproducible prognostic variables upon which patient selection could be based. In fact, it should first be recalled that 15%–20% of all N — patients relapse during the first 5 years after local-regional therapy, while in the subsequent 5 years another 5–10% relapse. Therefore, the number of analyzable events are indeed few, unless specific criteria for selection of patients with a high risk of early relapse are utilized.
Supported in part by Contract NO1-CM-07338 with the Division of Cancer Treatment, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.
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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg
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Bonadonna, G., Zambetti, M., Valagussa, P. (1989). Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Node-Negative Breast Cancer Patients. In: Senn, HJ., Goldhirsch, A., Gelber, R.D., Osterwalder, B. (eds) Adjuvant Therapy of Primary Breast Cancer. Recent Results in Cancer Research, vol 115. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83337-3_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83337-3_25
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