for Early-Stage Breast Cancer

reast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality among North American women [1]. In recent years, the incidence of early-stage breast cancer has been increasing, largely as a result of improvements in public education, screening programs, and technology [1a,1b]. Despite early diagnosis and increasingly ef-ficacious treatment paradigms, however, a significant proportion of women who have early-stage disease experience relapse at distant sites and ultimately die of recurrence-related complications. The significant rate of distant treatment failures indicates that some women have clinically undetectable micrometa-static disease at the time of diagnosis, and therefore locoregional therapy is in-sufficient for cure. To address these subclinical metastases, systemic therapy has become an integral component of the adjuvant treatment strategy. Adju-vant systemic therapy may be composed of chemotherapy, hormonal maneu-vers, immunotherapy, or experimental agents. This article focuses on the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in the management of early-stage breast cancer