What is neoadjuvant chemotherapy?

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is medicine your doctor administers before you have breast cancer surgery. Your doctors may recommend neoadjuvant chemotherapy if you have a large tumor, since the drugs may shrink it. With a smaller tumor, you have more surgical options open to you.

For example, a woman who needs a mastectomy, or full breast removal, due to the large size of her tumor, can become a candidate for lumpectomy with medication that shrinks the invasive tumor prior to surgery. A lumpectomy removes just the tumor inside the breast, as opposed to the entire breast.Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is also effective for certain types of breast cancer, including inflammatory breast cancer, which is aggressive and fast growing.