High-dose chemotherapy for breast cancer: any use for it?

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Abstract
The results of two studies of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) for the management of breast cancer appear in this issue of Annals of Oncology [1, 2]. The two reports come at a time when the field of HDCT for breast cancer appears in a protracted phase of very little appeal to doctors and patients alike. The very high expectations and excitement surrounding HDCT in the 1990s were countered by the preliminary results of large randomized studies showing that HDCT added only minor or no benefit to conventional-dose therapy [3–7]. In addition, the oncological community was set back by the shocking knowledge that the Bezwoda’s trials, reporting a therapeutic advantage from HDCT, were plagued by fabricated data [8, 9]. In such a scenario of minor or even bluntly negative consideration for the role of the HDCT approach, the articles appearing in this issue of Annals of Oncology rank among the list of ‘negative’ reports. As such, should they simply be viewed as confirming evidence that HDCT has no role for women with breast cancer?

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