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neoadjuvant

American  
[nee-oh-aj-uh-vuhnt] / ˌni oʊˈædʒ ə vənt /

adjective

Medicine/Medical.
  1. utilizing drugs, radiation therapy, or other means of supplemental treatment before cancer surgery or other primary cancer treatment.

    Her neoadjuvant therapy included hormones and chemo, which shrank the tumor prior to its surgical removal.


Etymology

Origin of neoadjuvant

First recorded in 1980–85; neo- ( def. ) + adjuvant ( def. )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

To confirm their clinical relevance, we studied serum samples from 192 breast cancer patients enrolled in the I-SPY 2 neoadjuvant chemotherapy trial.

From Science Daily Feb. 17, 2026

"Looking ahead, it will be critical to identify patient and disease characteristics that will tell us who can potentially be cured with neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy only and who will benefit from more intensified treatment strategies."

From Science Daily May 15, 2024

"This study shows that a combination of neoadjuvant and adjuvant durvalumab offers benefit for patients and may have the potential to change standard-of-care for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer," Heymach said.

From Science Daily Oct. 23, 2023

MD Anderson is engaged in longstanding multidisciplinary efforts to use neoadjuvant treatments to improve outcomes for patients.

From Science Daily Oct. 23, 2023

Still, the race is on in both the adjuvant and neoadjuvant setting, where treatment precedes surgery.

From Reuters Jul. 6, 2018

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