Chemotherapy & Systemic Therapy for Breast Cancer

University of Chicago Medicine medical oncologists are skilled at managing all types of breast cancers, with special expertise in aggressive forms of the disease, such as triple-negative breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer. We treat breast cancer with the latest systemic therapies — drugs that fight cancer cells almost anywhere in the body.

Neoadjuvant Therapies for Breast Cancer

Neoadjuvant therapies are additional treatments (typically chemotherapy or hormone therapy) to shrink the tumor(s), given before surgical removal of the cancer. Neoadjuvant therapy allows physicians to better understand how an individual's cancer responds to therapy, so the treatment plan can be adjusted accordingly. It also opens the gateway for patients to access newer chemotherapies.

Adjuvant Therapies for Breast Cancer

Adjuvant therapies are treatments given after surgical removal of the cancer. Types of adjuvant therapies include:

• Chemotherapy to kill cancer cells
• Hormonal therapy to block or lower estrogen, which promotes growth of cancers that are hormone receptor-positive
• Biologic therapy to kill cancer cells or block them from growing

Through our breast cancer clinical trials program, we offer many promising emerging systemic therapies not widely available at other institutions.