Chemotherapy can be used in three different ways. It can be used prior to surgery to shrink a tumor before it is removed. It can also be used after surgery to reduce the risk that cancer will recur in other parts of the body. This is called adjuvant therapy. Finally, it can be used to treat cancer that has recurred in areas outside the breast.
Adjuvant chemotherapy is used for many breast cancer patients.
After surgery is done and a complete pathology report is available, your physician will be able to estimate the risk that breast cancer may recur elsewhere in your body. Based on involvement of the axillary nodes , the tumor size, grade , and other prognostic factors. For example, take a group of 100 women. On the other hand, if only 6 women were destined to recur, the same chemotherapy would benefit only 2 additional women. This is why prognosis is extremely important for determining the need for chemotherapy.