Hormone therapy in inoperable breast cancer

Primary inoperable breast cancer is characterized by disease limited to the breast and local regions or tumors associated with disseminated disease. There may be a biological factor accounting for the difference in these initial manifestations of the cancer. Castration can be employed as an initial treatment in premenopausal women with primary inoperable breast cancers and disseminated disease. Estrogenic hormones produce significant regression of primary inoperable carcinomas in postmenopausal women and should be considered in the initial therapy of such patients despite the presence or absence of disseminated disease. Radiation therapy and/or surgery can be utilized as adjunctive therapies. The sequential use of these treatments may prolong survival.