Does more intense palliative treatment improve overall survival in metastatic breast cancer patients?

A retrospective review of 483 women who had metastatic breast cancer and were treated between 1942 and 1975 was carried out to examine the effects of improving and aggressive palliative modalities on patient survival. There was a steady increase in the proportion of patients treated by chemotherapy and/or hormonal ablative therapy. Additive hormonal therapy, irradiation, and surgery for palliation decreased in frequency during the same period. Survival time from the first recurrence did not appear to increase in these patients over the period of this study. In spite of increasingly sophisticated palliative therapies, the survival time of patients with metastasis did not appear to be significantly prolonged.