Ewha Med J.  2014 Sep;37(2):75-82. 10.12771/emj.2014.37.2.75.

Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer

• Lee A
• Moon BI

• KMID: 2171287
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12771/emj.2014.37.2.75

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in Korean women and its incidence has increased. Among the various treatment methods for breast cancer, chemotherapy plays an important role. The use chemotherapy to treat breast cancer began at the mid 20th century and first combination chemotherapy was conducted in mid 1970s. This chemotherapy reduced breast cancer mortality up to 25~30%, anthracycline and taxane based chemotherapeutic regimens are widely used. Chemotherapy could be classified to neoadjuavnt, adjuvant and palliative setting according to its aim and role. In this review, various drug therapeutic options and their backgrounds are considered based on neoadjuvant, adjuvant and metastatic systemic therapies.

Keyword

Breast neoplasms; Chemotherapy

MeSH Terms

Breast Neoplasms*
Drug Therapy*
Drug Therapy, Combination
Female
Humans
Incidence
Mortality

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Magnetic resonance imagings of 40-years-old woman, who was diagnosed with breast cancer and received 6 cycles of neoadjuvant AT (doxorubicin+docetaxel) chemotherapy. Pathologic complete response was identified after 6 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. (A) Before the neoadjuvant chemotherapy, tumor mass occupied over the half of right breast and axillary node is enlarged due to metastasis. (B) After 6 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, tumor mass and metastatic axillary nodes are completely resolved.

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