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What is the Japanese consensus on adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer?

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Abstract

The international conference of adjuvant therapy for primary breast cancer in St. Gallen and the National Institute of Health Consensus Conference for Breast Cancer Treatment have recommended appropriate treatment for individual subgroups by recurrence risk. However, evidence provided by Japanese clinical trials did not contribute to the consensus recommendations. To compare the risk of recurrence in breast cancer patients between Japan and western countries, a database of Japanese breast cancer patients was analyzed. From 1991 to 2001, approximately 12,100 articles listed on MEDLINE were reviewed by abstract, and articles were then selected and reviewed by the authors. According to the AHPC (Agency for Health Care Policy and Research), quality assessment and strength for recommendation of the evidence from clinical trials were classified. Even though there are likely some unknown ethnic differences, we should provide Japanese patients with state of the art treatment for breast cancer in accordance with global standard therapies, which have been evaluated by breast cancer specialists in western countries.

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Abbreviations

EBM:

Evidence based medicine

WHO:

World health organization

AHCPR:

Agency health care policy and research

MMC:

Mitomycin-c

ER:

Estrogen receptor

FT:

Futoraful

ADM:

Adriamycin

TAM:

Tamoxifen

OA:

Ovarian ablation

PgR:

Progesterone receptor

Node(-):

Negative lymph nodes involvement

Node(+):

Positive lymph nodes involvement

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Research and Surgery, National Shikoku Cancer Center, Japan

    Toshiaki Saeki & Shigemitsu Takashima

Authors
  1. Toshiaki Saeki
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  2. Shigemitsu Takashima
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Reprint requests to Toshiaki Saeki, Director, Department of Clinical Research and Surgery, National Shikoku Cancer Center, 13 Horinouchi, Matsuyama 790-0007, Japan.

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Saeki, T., Takashima, S. What is the Japanese consensus on adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer?. Breast Cancer 10, 15–20 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02967620

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02967620

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