Abstract
Breast cancer remains the leading cause of death due to cancer in women. A woman living in the United States currently has a lifetime risk of one chance in 11 that breast cancer will develop. In 1980 alone, there will be more than 100,000 new cases in this country. Despite the fact that the majority of patients initially have "operable" lesions, almost half of the patients who experience tumor recurrences will relapse. Although therapy for advanced disease is successful in prolonging survival, virtually all of these women will eventually die of their disease. During the past several years, basic research has provided new insights into the biology of breast cancer that have resulted in new therapeutic approaches to this disease. In addition, the development of effective and relatively safe combination chemotherapy for metastatic disease has encouraged the earlier use of cytotoxic drugs in the treatment of breast cancer.New hope
