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Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in bone marrow raise risk for metastasis and death in women with breast cancer. In an industry-funded phase II trial, researchers randomized women (median age, 48) with newly diagnosed stage II–III breast cancer and no evidence of distant metastasis to either intravenous zoledronic acid (ZA) every 3 weeks for 1 year in conjunction with chemotherapy (60 women) or to chemotherapy alone (59 women).
At diagnosis, 26 women in the ZA group and 28 women in the control group had DTCs in bone marrow. At 3 months, 17 evaluable women who received ZA compared with 25 control women had detectable DTCs (P=0.054). Among evaluable women with no detectable DTCs at baseline, 27 of 31 in the ZA group remained DTC-free at 3 month…