Systemic therapy

A large body of data on systemic therapy has been presented and published i n the past year, including new information on primary risk reduction, patie nt selection for adjuvant systemic therapy, and anthracycline-analogs. New data on ongoing adjuvant trials (including taxane studies), unpublished upd ates from the fourth Oxford Overview in September 2000, and provocative dat a on ovarian ablation were important features of the November 2000 National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 a romatase inhibitors and pure antiestrogens, further expand the role of the oldest targeted breast cancer therapy. Trastuzumab and other novel compound s are being investigated as single-agents and in combination with conventio nal systemic approaches. Discussions on the long-term effects of adjuvant t herapy have taken center stage also. These and other important ongoing deve lopments since 2000 are examined in this review article. Curr Opin Oncol 20 01, 13:436-449, (C), 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.