Introduction: Breast cancer is a systemic disease, unfortunately clinically undetectable micrometastases are present in many women even in early stages of the disease. Many of these patients can be cured with combined modality treatment of surgery, radiation and chemo- or hormone therapy.
Aim: To survey the treatment of breast cancer.
Method: The author presents an overview of the treatment of breast cancer based on the relevant literature and experience.
Results: Systemic adjuvant treatments include cytotoxic and hormone therapy. The most commonly used cytotoxic agents are cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin and epirubicin. The anthracycline-containing regimens are slightly superior, and the addition of taxane to an anthracycline-containing regimen may further increase the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients with metastatic disease cannot be cured, the goal of the treatment is to improve quality of life, and prolong survival. Up to 60-80% of these patients may experience objective tumor response to first-line combination chemotherapy. The taxanes (paclitaxel or docetaxel) with anthracyclines are the most active chemotherapy drugs against breast cancer. The best results are achieved with second-, third-line chemotherapy drugs: capecitabine, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil and a variety of its oral pro-drugs. The most recent developments are represented by the biologically-targeted drugs, the first agent developed trastuzumab, has already been introduced in the clinic. The combination of chemotherapy with various response modifiers is a rapidly developing field of clinical cancer research. Several other new agents including growth factor receptor antagonists, tumor vaccines, antiangiogenic agents are tested in clinical trials alone and in combination with chemotherapy.
Conclusions: The combination of chemotherapy with the new generation of drugs is a rapidly advancing and important field of clinical oncology.