Symposium on the management of early breast cancer (stages I and II). Part II: Clinical experience with treatment methods. 5. Adjuvant endocrine therapy.

A number of trials of adjuvant therapy, including endocrine therapy, for primary breast cancer are in progress. There is an urgent need for increased international cooperation in study design, for defining stratification parameters and coordinating treatment strategy in future adjuvant trials of operable breast cancer. In this way the results of treatment in the different trials will be comparable. On the basis of encouraging clinical and experimental data, adjuvant endocrine therapy is expected to play a major role in the effort to improve the prognosis of primary breast cancer.