Adjuvant Chemotherapy: Accept or Reject?

Dr. Jonathan Storey at Science Based Medicine:

Her recent breast surgery went perfectly. The tumor is out, margins are clear, and none of her scans show any cancer. So, she is understandably distraught when I begin to discuss the option of chemotherapy. “But I thought they got it all,” she says.

As a medical oncologist, I have had some version of this conversation hundreds of times, but it never gets easier. We call it adjuvant therapy — the medical practice of giving a person four to six months of chemotherapy after their cancer surgery, just in case. The underlying logic of adjuvant therapy rests on a single uncomfortable fact.


The practice of oncology is hard. I hope you never have to make a decision regarding adjuvant chemotherapy.

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: The Mediterranean diet is linked to lower risk of getting cancer.

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