RakSutkaBreast cancer: the biology, the detection, and how the treatment changed.
A hospital pharmacy preparation area with a laminar flow cabinet and labelled vials
Out of trial programmesCombination regimens were assembled and tested, rather than deduced from one laboratory insight.

Section 06

Treatment

Radiotherapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, hormonal treatment and a targeted antibody came from four different places, and none of them from a single insight. Each entry says what the treatment is and where it came from.

5 entries · What the treatments are and where they came from.

Entries in this section

  • An empty linear accelerator treatment room seen from the doorway
    06.1 Radiotherapy

    Directed radiation after surgery reduces local recurrence, and the planning of it is a geometry problem.

  • A hospital pharmacy preparation area with a laminar flow cabinet and labelled vials
    06.2 Cytotoxic chemotherapy

    Combination regimens came out of trial programmes rather than from any single laboratory insight.

  • A laboratory notebook open beside glass reagent bottles on a bench, daylight
    06.3 Tamoxifen

    A compound developed for something else entirely became the long-running hormonal treatment, and the receptor work is what explained why it worked.

  • A rack of small labelled reagent bottles on a laboratory shelf, close
    06.4 Aromatase inhibitors

    Blocking the enzyme rather than the receptor is a different mechanism with different consequences.

  • A cold storage unit open in a laboratory showing racked vials, gloved hand on the door
    06.5 Trastuzumab

    An antibody aimed at a specific receptor, and the first widely used treatment chosen by a test rather than by the diagnosis alone.

Every entry on this site is one thing that was established, and who established it. The complete set is in the register.