title: Systemic therapy.
abstract: A large body of data on systemic therapy has been presented and published in the past year, including new information on primary risk reduction, patient selection for adjuvant systemic therapy, and anthracycline-analogs. New data on ongoing adjuvant trials (including taxane studies), unpublished updates from the fourth Oxford Overview in September 2000, and provocative data on ovarian ablation were important features of the November 2000 National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on Adjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer. Important new data on anti-estrogen therapy, including aromatase inhibitors and pure antiestrogens, further expand the role of the oldest targeted breast cancer therapy. Trastuzumab and other novel compounds are being investigated as single-agents and in combination with conventional systemic approaches. Discussions on the long-term effects of adjuvant therapy have taken center stage also. These and other important ongoing developments since 2000 are examined in this review article.
authors.affiliation: The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21231-1000, USA. awolff@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Wolff
mesh_terms: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D047072:Aromatase Inhibitors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010166:Palliative Care; D018579:Patient Selection
chemical_list: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D047072:Aromatase Inhibitors; D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators