chemotherapy

Last reviewed 06/2023

Chemotherapy is indicated in two situations for the treatment of breast cancer:

  • adjuvant chemotherapy in patients at risk of micrometastasis
  • treatment of known metastatic disease

First line treatment is with an anthracycline or mitozantrone. Resistant tumours may respond to a taxol compound.

Gemcitabine in combination with paclitaxel, in cases of breast cancer who have relapsed following adjuvant/neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, is recommended as an option for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer only when docetaxel monotherapy or docetaxel plus capecitabine are also considered appropriate (1).

Reference:

  1. NICE (January 2007).Gemcitabine for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer