title: Duration of therapy in adjuvant chemotherapy trials.
abstract: Almost all the adjuvant chemotherapy regimens that have been established as effective in prolonging the survival of patients with early breast cancer have been administered for 1 to 2 years. If equally effective, shorter courses of therapy would result in less overall toxicity and allow early introduction of non-cross-resistant regimens. The efficacy of 2 regimens differing only in duration was compared in 5 randomized trials that have been conducted. None have shown an overall survival advantage for a longer course of therapy, and only 1 has shown an advantage in time to recurrence for a longer course. There has been a nonsignificant trend in some of the trials in favor of the shorter arms of therapy. It must be concluded at the present time that regimens that utilize 4 to 6 months of therapy are likely to be as effective and are probably preferable to 12 or more months of therapy.
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use* / Q000633:toxicity; D001365:Axilla; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008408:Mastectomy; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000008:administration & dosage; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004317:Doxorubicin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D005472:Fluorouracil; D008727:Methotrexate