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You've just had, or soon will have, surgery to remove one or more invasive tumors from your breast. Your doctor has counseled you to consider an additional form of breast cancer treatment called adjuvant therapy.

If this describes your situation, this guide is for you. If you're looking for different information about breast cancer, see this guide's "Related links" section. The term "adjuvant" means something that helps or contributes. Adjuvant therapy uses chemotherapy drugs, radiation, hormone therapy, targeted therapy or a combination to help destroy any cancer cells that were not removed during your breast cancer surgery. Its goal is to decrease the risk of your breast cancer coming back.

Adjuvant therapy is sometimes considered an insurance policy. But that may be an overly simplistic way to think about it. Your decision about adjuvant therapy for breast cancer is a complex one. There's no one right answer for all women. If adjuvant therapy could benefit all women with breast cancer at low cost — to use the insurance analogy — it would make sense for all such women to undergo this treatment. But potential benefits vary depending on your situation, and there are costs, including potential side effects and problems caused by the therapy itself. You have to weigh both short-term and long-term effects and outcomes. Different women have different values and opinions about each of these situations.

If you face this decision, this guide can help you learn more about what you stand to gain or lose with adjuvant therapy for breast cancer. You can tailor part of this guide to your situation. You'll learn more about that later.

This guide is intended as a tool that you and your doctor can use together. Keep in mind that it's for use by women with invasive breast cancer. It's not intended for women with noninvasive ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) tumors or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) tumors. A National Institutes of Health consensus panel of experts noted: "Clear communication of benefits and risks is an essential component in enabling as informed a joint treatment decision as possible." You need to share information about your values and what's important to you, and your doctor needs to share expertise gained from medical training and experience.

What is adjuvant therapy?