Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: efficacy, response assessment and axillary strategy

This dissertation examined whether differences in treatment outcomes can be observed between subsequent and simultaneous administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, i.e. chemotherapy administered prior to surgery, to women with breast cancer. AC-T chemotherapy, which is chemotherapy administered during subsequent sessions, was shown to be more effective than TAC chemotherapy, a combination of three types of chemotherapy administered simultaneously. It was also shown that a breast ultrasound is equally effective as an MRI scan in terms of tumour size measurement after neoadjuvant chemotherapy administration. The sentinel node procedure also proved to be useful in patients initially diagnosed with clinically node-negative breast cancer who receive chemotherapy prior to surgery. Partially based on the results of this study, the sentinel node procedure is now performed in a subgroup of patients after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.