Primary systemic therapy for operable breast cancer: present role and perspectives

One of the most basic properties of breast cancer is its ability to invade surrounding tissues and to successfully establish metastatic deposits in distant organs. This property is what gives cancer its lethal potential and what differentiates it from nonmalignant growths. However, a clear understanding of this property did not develop until this past century. Despite the recognition that distant spread was responsible for cancer fatalities and that micrometastases occurred early in the natural history of breast cancer, therapy continued to focus on eliminating the primary tumor.