Systemic Adjuvant Therapy for Node-Negative Breast Cancer: Proven or Premature?

Excerpt

Until recently, it has not been considered standard practice to administer adjuvant systemic therapy after surgery to any group of women with node-negative breast cancer (1). These women have relatively few relapses, only 25% to 28% at 10 years, compared with a 10-year relapse rate of 75% in women with node-positive disease (2, 3). Overall survival rates, similarly, are 65% to 82% at 10 years for women with node-negative disease and 25% to 40% for women with involved axillary nodes (2, 3). Recurrence and survival rates for node-negative women are, however, still far from ideal.

Before 1988, only a few