[The state of hormone and chemotherapy in breast neoplasms]

Several decisive developments have emerged during the past few years in the hormonal treatment and chemotherapy receptors should make for a more selective and successful application of hormone therapy. In the field of chemotherapy, highly active substances have been developed. Two groups of routine treatment may be defined: the first employs combinations of cytoxan, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil and prednisone, and the other, combinations of these agents with the highly active adriamycin. With these combinations, remissions lasting an average of over one year, with significantly prolonged survival, can be achieved in about two thirds of patients. It remains uncertain whether initial addition of hormone treatment to the chemotherapy is of definite advantage. Modern chemotherapy appears to have been especially beneficial in altering the course in patients with poor prognosis. The newest development is the use of chemotherapy postoperatively, i.e. so-called adjuvant chemotherapy. For the present this should only be done within controlled studies and in patients with histologically proven axillary lymph node metastases.