Chemotherapy-assisted treatment of invasive breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most effective solid tumors for chemotherapy, and chemotherapy plays an important role in the entire treatment. Through a large number of clinical case observations, it has been proven that the use of chemotherapy drugs for adjuvant treatment of invasive breast cancer after surgery can improve the survival rate. Invasive breast cancer with lymph node metastasis is an indication for the use of adjuvant chemotherapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy should reach a certain dose and the chemotherapy time should generally last about half a year to achieve the purpose of killing subclinical metastases.

The commonly used adjuvant chemotherapy regimen is the CMF regimen, which uses three drugs: cyclophosphamide (C), methotrexate (M), and fluorouracil (F). Depending on the condition, the medication can be started within one week after surgery. The dose of C and F is 400 mg/m2, and M is 20 mg/m2. It is administered intravenously once on the first day and the eighth day. It is a course of treatment, repeated every 4 weeks, and 6 courses are completed. Because the effect of doxorubicin is better than other anticancer drugs, the CAF (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, fluorouracil) regimen can be used for patients with poorly differentiated tumors and advanced stages. The dose of C and F is 400 mg/m2, administered intravenously on the first and eighth days, and A is 40 mg/m2, administered intravenously on the first day, repeated every 4 weeks, for a total of 8 courses.

It is worth mentioning that only patients with invasive breast cancer without obvious bone marrow suppression can undergo adjuvant chemotherapy, and liver and kidney function should be checked regularly during chemotherapy. The white blood cell count should be checked before each chemotherapy. When the white blood cell count is <3×109/L, the medication interval should be extended.