What are the consequences of not having chemotherapy for early-stage invasive breast cancer?

Not all patients with early invasive breast cancer need chemotherapy, so some patients have no adverse effects even without chemotherapy. However, for patients with early invasive breast cancer with axillary lymph node metastasis, the risk of metastasis or recurrence after surgery may increase if chemotherapy is not given. Early invasive breast cancer patients are usually treated with surgery, and if the lesions can be completely removed by surgery, then chemotherapy is not needed. Some early invasive breast cancer patients also don’t need chemotherapy, but they may need endocrine therapy with drugs such as tamoxifen, anastrozole, etc. Especially for patients with high content of estrogen receptor in the tumor cells, it can reduce the probability of postoperative metastasis or recurrence of breast cancer, and at this time, there will not be any serious consequences without chemotherapy. However, for patients with invasive breast cancer with axillary lymph node metastasis or axillary lymph node-negative but with high risk factors for recurrence, the risk of postoperative recurrence and metastasis may increase if chemotherapy is not given. Patients diagnosed with early invasive breast cancer should ask their doctors to evaluate whether chemotherapy is needed in the light of their own conditions, and should not make blind judgment on their own.