What is the purpose of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer

  It is still common to see locally advanced breast cancer in clinical practice, which presents with malignant breast lesions invading the skin and muscle, with partial ulceration and enlarged and fused axillary lymph nodes. For such patients after pathological confirmation doctors will recommend patients to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy.  The most basic purposes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy are: 1) to control the systemic micrometastases earlier and reduce the risk of systemic metastases; 2) to improve the local control effect as part of the systemic treatment effect, so that the local lesions can be reduced and the conditions can be created for smooth surgery, and some patients can even achieve complete remission of the pathology; 3) some patients with local lesions can be treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The effectiveness and sensitivity of the chemotherapy regimen can be observed through the changes of breast lesions and lymph nodes in neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which provides a very valuable basis for the adjustment of the subsequent treatment regimen.  Therefore, for locally advanced breast cancer, close cooperation between doctors and patients is needed to complete at least 4 courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to create favorable conditions for the subsequent surgery and comprehensive treatment.