Adjuvant treatment of breast cancer: sequence and duration of hormonal therapy.

The role of hormones in the treatment of breast cancer has been recognized for more than a century, since Beatson published his observations on the effect of oophorectomy in patients with metastatic breast cancer in 1896 [1]. In the adjuvant setting the role of hormonal responsiveness and of hormonal treatments has been re-emphasized during the last Consensus Conference held in St. Gallen, Switzerland (Table 1) in 2005 [2]. However, important questions regarding selection of the hormonal manipulation, duration of the hormonal treatment and the best sequence of different hormones are still open and will be discussed.