Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with cytotoxic drugs that interfere with the growth and division of rapidly proliferating malignant cells, thereby destroying tumor cells or arresting their spread. It is a systemic modality, meaning the agents circulate throughout the body, and it may be given orally or by in…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 12 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 13× across the literature 🗓 Reviewed July 2026

Overview

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with cytotoxic drugs that interfere with the growth and division of rapidly proliferating malignant cells, thereby destroying tumor cells or arresting their spread. It is a systemic modality, meaning the agents circulate throughout the body, and it may be given orally or by injection. Within cancer care, chemotherapy is used in several strategic roles: as primary treatment for disseminated disease, as adjuvant therapy after surgery to reduce recurrence, as neoadjuvant therapy to shrink tumors before local treatment, and in combination with radiotherapy or targeted agents. In breast cancer specifically, chemotherapy is integral to managing both early and metastatic disease, and its sequencing relative to other treatments, including its use after whole-brain radiotherapy for metastatic spread, can carry prognostic significance. Targeted immunotherapeutic antibodies, such as those directed against HER2, extend the conventional cytotoxic approach in tumors expressing particular molecular markers. Because chemotherapeutic agents also affect normal dividing tissues, treatment is associated with predictable toxicities that require monitoring and supportive care. Pathological assessment of tumor proliferation, including mitotic activity and proliferation markers, helps guide decisions about whether and how aggressively to treat. By exploiting the heightened proliferation of cancer cells, chemotherapy remains a central component of multimodal oncology aimed at improving survival and disease control.

Research published in this journal

12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 12 articles above have been cited 13 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Chemotherapy, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Breast Cancer Survival.

Journal editorial board
Mark LaBarge · United States Raffaele Serra · Italy Jayant Vaidya · United Kingdom

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.