Refining systemic therapy for early breast cancer: difficulties with subtraction.

摘要

Preliminary results from the Austrian Breast Cancer Study Group (ABCSG)-12 trial concerning the management of premenopausal oestrogen-receptor-positive early breast cancer showed that adding zoledronic acid-a bisphosphonate-resulted in a significant improvement in disease-free survival. If this benefit is confirmed in ongoing studies, zoledronic acid will join endocrine therapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, and trastuzumab as potentially useful systemic interventions in this common disease. Trials of vascular targeting agents in the adjuvant setting are in progress, and if successful will add a further option to an already crowded, complex, and expensive treatment algorithm.