Breast Cancer

The appropriate selection of medical therapeutic interventions in breast cancer patients is a daily challenge for medical oncologists and takes into account disease characteristics such as stage at diagnosis, age and menopausal status, aggressiveness of the disease, and presence or absence of key therapeutic targets such as hormonal receptors and HER2. Knowledge of treatment-related toxicities as well as patient’s comorbidities, preferences, age, etc. is a critical component of an optimal estimation of the benefit versus harm ratio of a specific therapy. This chapter reviews the side effects of the main medical treatment modalities for breast cancer: chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, target therapy, immunotherapy, and bone-modifying therapeutics in terms of frequency, monitoring, and practical management.