Adjuvant chemotherapy in hormonal-dependent breast cancer patients - options in using of multigene assays
Abstract
The time before 2000, when adjuvant chemotherapy was a standard part of the treatment of almost all breast cancers, including hormonal-dependent, is long gone. Multigene assays help us to clarify the biological behavior of estrogen/progesterone-positive tumors and thus the prognosis of patients.
In the past, chemotherapy was indicated in the majority of patients without lymph node involvement, now is shown that even tumors with 1-3 metastatic lymph nodes may be those with a good prognosis that does not require chemotherapy. The challenge of the upcoming period is prognostic stratification of the disease according to the risk of relapse and predictive administration of systemic therapy.
The more prognostic groups we create, the more targeted will be the treatment and the smaller group of patients will be exposed to its side effects.