
chemotherapy of breast cancer
the majority of cancer patients who are
referred for chemotherapy are in far advanced
stages of the disease.  the difficulty in deliver-
ing an effective dose of an oncolytic agent
to the involved areas may limit the results of
treatment unless the patient's tumor is an un-
usually responsive one.  the variability in re-
sponse between apparently similar cases of
cancer of the same cell type has become in-
creasingly evident, and is as puzzling as the
fact that 20 per cent of patients with breast
cancer will live 5 years with no treatment.  the
decisions as to the choice between chemother-
apy and hormone therapy, as well as to the
choice of the chemotherapeutic agent to be
employed, may be difficult.
as experience increases, the usefulness of
chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer is
becoming increasingly apparent.  it also has be-
come apparent that chemotherapy cannot be
regarded as a curative procedure in advanced
cancer even though an occasional patient ap-
pears to have been cured.  however, the value
of the oncolytic agents in prolonging useful
survival time, ameliorating many of the dis-
tressing symptoms associated with cancer, and
providing the physician with an extra tool for
a positive program in the care of the cancer
patient is now established.
