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Adjuvant Hormone Therapy

Meaning

Adjuvant Hormone Therapy is a systemic treatment strategy utilizing hormonal agents administered following a primary therapeutic intervention, such as surgery or radiation, for hormone-sensitive malignancies like breast or prostate cancer. The clinical objective of this secondary treatment is to target and eradicate any residual microscopic disease, thereby substantially reducing the patient’s long-term risk of cancer recurrence. This approach strategically exploits the endocrine dependence of specific cancer cell populations to suppress or block the growth-promoting signals from endogenous hormones. Clinicians meticulously evaluate the tumor’s hormone receptor status to establish the rationale and predict the potential efficacy of this essential post-primary intervention.