Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality in women in developed countries even though most women with the disease die of other causes. Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with anthracycline-based regimens has been proven to decrease the risk of relapse and cancer-related mortality in women with early stage breast cancer contributing to the improving survival seen with this disease. The taxanes have been effective additions to several adjuvant regimens based on recent prospective randomized studies. In the quest to further improve outcomes with adjuvant chemotherapy, dose and schedule modifications based on kinetic models have been compared with standard regimens. In this paper we review of several key trials testing a specific modification called ‘dose-dense’ chemotherapy.
