Mayer Erica L, Burstein Harold J
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 44 Binney Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2007 Apr;21(2):257-72. doi: 10.1016/j.hoc.2007.03.001.
Cytotoxic chemotherapy is a mainstay of treatment for advanced breast cancer. Treatment of metastatic (also called stage IV, advanced, or recurrent) breast cancer is not considered curative. Rather, the goals of treatment with chemotherapy are to prolong survival, alleviate or prevent tumor-related symptoms or complications, and improve quality of life. While the purpose of chemotherapy is to prevent or alleviate symptoms, chemotherapy paradoxically carries considerable toxicities that cause substantial symptoms in patients, notoriously including fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, mucositis, neutropenia, and neuropathy. Balancing the benefits and the side effects of chemotherapy is further complicated by the natural history of advanced breast cancer, which can be quite prolonged and typically involves multiple lines of chemotherapy, especially in patients whose tumors respond to treatment.
细胞毒性化疗是晚期乳腺癌治疗的主要手段。转移性（也称为IV期、晚期或复发性）乳腺癌的治疗不被认为是治愈性的。相反，化疗的治疗目标是延长生存期、减轻或预防与肿瘤相关的症状或并发症，并提高生活质量。虽然化疗的目的是预防或减轻症状，但矛盾的是，化疗具有相当大的毒性，会给患者带来严重症状，其中最著名的包括疲劳、恶心、呕吐、腹泻、脱发、粘膜炎、中性粒细胞减少和神经病变。晚期乳腺癌的自然病程可能相当漫长，通常需要多线化疗，尤其是肿瘤对治疗有反应的患者，这使得平衡化疗的益处和副作用变得更加复杂。
