Abstract
The treatment of disseminated breast cancer consists first of modification of the hormonal environment of the patient. This can be done either by hormonal deprivation — oophorectomy, adrenalectomy, or hypophysectomy — or by the administration of hormones, usually steroids, androgens, estrogens, and corticosteroids. Only when these therapeutic measures have failed is it advisable to have recourse to non-hormonal cytotoxic agents, such as the alkylating drugs and 5-fluorouracil. One exception to this rule may be the group of patients less than one year postmenopausal. These are notoriously resistant to hormonal manipulation, whether surgical (hormonal deprivation) or medical (hormonal administration). This is why a clinical investigation is now being conducted with the aim of discovering whether the use of 5-fluorouracil or of some alkylating agent should precede hormone treatment in this particular group of patients, as the only exception to the general rule.
This work was supported by Grant Ca 4896-03 of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., United States of America, for a co-operative study organized in Europe, and by Contract Euratom-ULB-Pise no. 026-63-4 BIAC. The European Breast Cancer Group is now part of the Groupe Européen de Chimiothérapie anti-cancéreuse.
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Tagnon, H.J., Coune, A., Heuson, J.C., van Rymenant, M. (1967). Problems in the Treatment of Disseminated Cancer of the Breast: Selection of Patients for Hormone Treatment. In: Manuila, L., Moles, S., Rentchnick, P. (eds) New Trends in the Treatment of Cancer. Recent Results in Cancer Research / Fortschritte der Krebsforschung / Progrès dans les recherches sur le cancer, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87620-2_6
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