Adjuvant Therapy of Node-Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

Axillary-node–negative breast cancer develops in approximately 70,000 women in the United States each year. Local surgery, radiotherapy, or both lead to long-term survival in the great majority (approximately 70 percent) of such women. Most do not have distant micrometastases and therefore do not require systemic therapy. The four articles on systemic adjuvant therapy in this issue of the Journal ^{1 2 3 4} are important first steps in the long journey toward the goal of eliminating micrometastases and curing the disease in the women whose cancer will recur. How should these results affect current treatment for node-negative breast cancer in the general population?The . . .