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What Is the Role of Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Postmenopausal Women with Operable Breast Cancer?

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Non-Disseminated Breast Cancer

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Radiat Oncol))

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Abstract

The role of adjuvant chemotherapy in postmenopausal women with resected primary breast cancer is still being elucidated. Clinical oncologists have gone through several distinct phases regarding the value of this modality. Strong enthusiasm for its use was ushered in during the mid-1970s, largely due to early results from the first Milan cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) trial that showed a statistically significant advantage in terms of treatment failure for women treated with CMF over control (Bonadonna et al. 1976). When patients were evaluated according to menopausal status, this advantage was found to be pre sent for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. An accompanying editorial hailed this treatment as a major advance and advocated its use in women who could not participate in a research program (Holland 1976). However, enthusiasm largely dissipated when subsequent updates of the Milan trial revealed a lack of significant advantage for CMF over control in postmenopausal women (Bonadonna et al. 1977, 1978).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Betty J. Foust, M.D., USA

    James N. Ingle M.D. (Consultant, Parents’ Professor of Oncology)

  2. Mayo Medical School, 200 1st Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    James N. Ingle M.D. (Consultant, Parents’ Professor of Oncology)

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  1. James N. Ingle M.D.
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiotherapy, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, 77030, Houston, TX, USA

    Gilbert H. Fletcher M.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Department of Therapeutic Radiology - Radiation Oncology, University of Minnesota, UMHC Harvard Street at East River Parkway, Box 494, 55455-0110, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Seymour H. Levitt M.D. (Head and Professor) (Head and Professor)

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ingle, J.N. (1993). What Is the Role of Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Postmenopausal Women with Operable Breast Cancer?. In: Fletcher, G.H., Levitt, S.H. (eds) Non-Disseminated Breast Cancer. Medical Radiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84593-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84593-2_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-84595-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84593-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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