Basic principles in the use of adjuvant therapy

Data from collaborative trials clearly indicate that the primary effect of adjuvant therapy is to delay death from breast cancer by months or years. However, adjuvant chemotherapy does not appear to prolong the survival of women aged 50 years or older, and tamoxifen has not yet been shown to improve the survival of women younger than age 50. In three trials involving node-negative patients, all showed a highly significant improvement in disease-free survival despite different chemotherapeutic regimens and durations of regimens.