Adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer.

One hundred women with primary breast cancer with 4 or more metastatic axillary nodes were treated for 9 months postoperatively with vincristine, prednisone, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (VPCMF). Sixty-five women have been observed for a minimum of 5 years or until failure and the rest for 3 years or more. For 73 women who received adjuvant chemotherapy only, observed for 5 1/2 years median, disease-free status by life table analysis is 68% at 8 years. No significance difference was found between response of pre- and postmenopausal women in disease-free interval or survival. Mortality compared to expectation was sharply reduced; only 9 of 73 have died. These findings demonstrate the long term effectiveness of relatively short-term surgical adjuvant combination chemotherapy in pre- and post-menopausal patients with breast cancer at high risk.