Two new studies out this week challenge the conventional orthodoxy on the use of chemotherapy to treat women with breast cancer. The first, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concludes that it will eventually be possible to separate patients who will benefit from chemotherapy and those who will not, leading to potentially revolutionary changes in the treatment of the disease. The second, which was done by the Women's Health Initiative, suggests that for women who have had hysterectomies, estrogen doesn't cause breast cancer. But the trial was ended early because it caused strokes and blood clots.
- see this article from The New York Times