
“Deborah agreed to take part in a trial as she was keen to help other cancer patients in the future. "If taking part in a trial means others might be helped then I’m very happy with that."
This trial was looking at chemotherapy after surgery for breast cancer in women over the age of 70. This trial was supported by Cancer Research UK.
Women with early stage breast cancer often have chemotherapy after surgery. This is called adjuvant treatment. Doctors use adjuvant chemotherapy when they think there is a significant risk that the cancer could come back in the future.
Adjuvant chemotherapy increases survival from breast cancer and reduces the chances of it returning in younger women. But there hadn't been many trials that had looked at how well chemotherapy worked for women over 70. Researchers thought that chemotherapy would stop or delay breast cancer coming back in older women, but they didn’t know for sure.
Doctors usually give chemotherapy for breast cancer every 3 weeks. But having it more often may work better. You would normally have a break between each chemotherapy treatment because it can cause a drop in your blood count, increasing your risk of infections. If you have chemotherapy more often, a drug called GCSF can stimulate white blood cells to grow back more quickly.
The aims of this trial were to
This trial was never finished so there are no results available. The researchers were unable to recruit enough patients.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Professor Robert Leonard
Cancer Research UK
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
National Institute for Health Research Cancer Research Network (NCRN)
This is Cancer Research UK trial number CRUK/06/002.
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
“Deborah agreed to take part in a trial as she was keen to help other cancer patients in the future. "If taking part in a trial means others might be helped then I’m very happy with that."