IN THIS ISSUE Adjuvant Therapy in Postmenopausal Women Whether postmenopausal women with lymph node-negative breast cancer should be given adjuvant chemotherapy is controversial. The International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) (p. 1054) launched a randomized trial to evaluate the role of adjuvant chemotherapy followed by tamoxifen compared with tamoxifen alone in 1669 postmenopausal women with lymph node-negative disease. The IBCSG found that the benefit of chemotherapy was statistically significantly dependent on the estrogen receptor (ER) status of the tumor. They found that patients with ER-negative tumors had substantially better survival with chemotherapy followed by tamoxifen than with tamoxifen alone. However, adding chemotherapy provided no benefit to patients with ER-positive cancer compared with tamoxifen alone. In an editorial, Wolff and Abeloff (p. 1041) point out that, for daily practice, this trial confirms the benefit of a short course of chemotherapy for older women with lymph-node negative, endocrine-unresponsive disease but leaves unanswered its role in endocrine-responsive disease treated with tamoxifen. German Breast Cancer Study Group. J Clin Oncol 2000;18:94–101.[Abstract/Full Text] Effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy in combination with tamoxifen for node-positive postmenopausal breast cancer patients. International Breast Cancer Study Group. J Clin Oncol 1997;15:1385–94.[Abstract] Crivellari D, Bonetti M, Castiglione-Gertsch M, Gelber RD, Rudenstam CM, Thurlimann B, et al. Burdens and benefits of adjuvant cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil and tamoxifen for elderly patients with breast cancer: the International Breast Cancer Study Group Trial VII. J Clin Oncol 2000;18:1412–22.[Abstract/Full Text] Lippman ME, Allegra JC, Thompson EB, Simon R, Barlock A, Green L, et al. The relation between estrogen receptors and response rate to cytotoxic chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer. N Engl J Med 1978;298:1223–8.[Abstract] Cole BF, Gelber RD, Gelber S, Coates AS, Goldhirsch A. Polychemotherapy for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomised clinical trials with quality-adjusted survival analysis. Lancet 2001;358:277–86.[Medline] Goldhirsch A, Glick JH, Gelber RD, Coates AS, Senn HJ. Meeting highlights: international consensus panel on the treatment of primary breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 2001;19:3817–27.[Full Text] National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference statement: adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, November 1–3, 2000. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr 2001;30:5–15.[Medline] National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN practice guidelines for breast cancer, version 2001. [Last accessed 06/18/02.] Available at: http://www.nccn.org/physician_gls/index.html. Edwards BK, Howe HL, Ries LA, Thun MJ, Rosenberg HM, Yancik R, et al. Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1973–1999, featuring implications of age and aging on U.S. cancer burden. Cancer 2002;94:2766–92. JNCI Cancer Spectrum 17 July 2002; Vol. 94, No. 14 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.