[Adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: status in 1984]

Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy prolongs the recurrence-free interval and, probably, overall survival in patients with surgically-treated, node-positive breast cancer. Composition, dosage, timing and duration of cytostatic treatment are not yet standardized. Among node-negative patients those with a relatively high risk of recurrence (receptor negative) should also be given adjuvant chemotherapy. Combination with endocrine treatment and/or radiotherapy merits further investigation. We need more large, well-designed controlled clinical studies to answer the numerous unsolved questions on this subject.