Studies are ongoing to determine the best forms of adjuvant therapy for all of these women. Adjuvant therapy usually begins between 4 and 12 weeks after surgery. Doctors do not know whether adjuvant therapy is as effective in reducing recurrence when treatment is started at a later time. Anticancer drugs are given by mouth or by injection into a blood vessel. Either way, the drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body.
Most patients receive treatment in an outpatient part of the hospital or at the doctor's office.
Adjuvant chemotherapy usually lasts for 3 to 6 months. In adjuvant hormone therapy, tamoxifen is a drug taken orally. Like anticancer drugs, tamoxifen enters the bloodstream and travels through the body. Most women take tamoxifen for 2 to 5 years, but the ideal length of treatment is not known. Recently, two studies confirmed benefit for breast cancer patients taking adjuvant tamoxifen for 5 years, but saw no added benefit and noted potentially negative effects for patients taking tamoxifen longer than 5 years.