Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer — treatment after surgicalremoval of the tumor — is a major therapeutic advancethat has had a considerable effect on prolonging disease-freeand overall survival. Not all patients benefit from adjuvanttherapy, however, and certain types of adjuvant therapy arenot appropriate for some patients. For example, adjuvant treatmentwith tamoxifen, a selective estrogen-receptor modulator, hasimproved the 15-year survival rate among women with estrogen-receptor–positivebreast cancer by 31%, but it does not benefit women with estrogen-receptor–negativedisease.1 Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody against the humanepidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2), is associated. . . [Full Text of this Article]
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From the Division of Hematology–Oncology, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University Medical Center, New York.
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