Chemotherapy is the use of anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. There are many different chemotherapy drugs used alone or in combination to treat different types of cancer. These drugs stop cancer cells from dividing and reproducing and, as the drugs are carried in the blood, they can reach cancer cells almost anywhere in the body. They affect rapidly dividing cells and so can also affect rapidly dividing healthy cells, but the difference is that healthy cells can repair themselves and recover. Chemotherapy is carefully tailored to each patient and is given as a series of sessions of treatment. Each session is followed by a rest period.

Chemotherapy is an important treatment for breast cancer; it can be given before surgery (called neoadjuvant) to shrink (and sometimes completely melt away) high risk cancer before surgery. We do this to assess cancer behaviour and tailor, escalate or de-escalate treatment after surgery depending on the original response. We do this to increase cure rates and to prevent these cancers from coming back. Chemotherapy given after surgery (called adjuvant chemotherapy) is given to kill residual microscopic disease to prevent the risk of cancer recurrence. It is also used for people with secondary breast cancer (breast cancer elsewhere in the body) to control the disease. If this is your diagnosis, there is a full team to help support you through. The risks and benefits will be discussed with you so you can make an informed decision about your treatment.

Your individual case will be discussed in our multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting to decide the best treatment approach (including chemotherapy) and these treatments are discussed by our medical oncologists to discuss in full the risks and benefits for each patient. In selected patients, we use genomic assays such as Oncotype DX to help us guide treatment decisions around chemotherapy. These tests examine the genetic structure of the tumour itself and do not provide information if the cancer is inherited.

Oncotype DX: https://www.oncotypeiq.com/en-gb/breast-cancer/patients-and-carers/stage-i-iiia-invasive/About-the-Test

and Prosigna: https://www.prosigna.com/patients/

For additional information about chemotherapy see:

Chemotherapy (breast cancer)