Developments in breast cancer therapy

The lifetime risk of breast cancer in women is 1 in 8, with an increasing incidence in each decade of life after age 40. Breast cancer is considered curable with detection and treatment during Stages I and II, but disease-free survival drops in Stage III and is essentially zero in Stage IV. Breast-conserving surgical removal of tumors has been the standard of care for primary local therapy for more than a decade. For prevention of recurrence, tamoxifen is recommended in dosages of 20 mg/day for 5 years. The aromatase inhibitors are now considered first-line therapy in metastatic disease, and use of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab has increased 5-year survival rates.