Clinical Medicine Reviews in Women's Health

Improvements in overall survival and patient quality of life highlight the remarkable progress in breast cancer over the past two decades. Even though these outcomes are frequently attributed to early diagnosis, new surgical techniques, novel agents, and a better understanding of the biology of the disease, the impressive achievements would not have occurred without patient participation in well-designed clinical trials. And while it is counter-intuitive to believe that the complexity of a disease can be made even more complicated by results of scientific research, this is likely to be true for breast cancer. Nevertheless, the conquest of the disease is being relentlessly pursued by cancer researchers who, like Cervantes’ fictional character, are convinced that their quest against unseemly odds is not misguided fantasy.