Is there a less toxic alternative to chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment?

Yes: We look at each cancer's profile - estrogen / Progesterone /her-2 receptors as well as histology-size, grade , blood vessel invasioneg then the patient herself age menopause status-if recepto pos. And older pt. Ie postmenopausal we often treat with hormonal therapy - pills - that have a less severe side effect profile but still not without problems - osteoporosis uterine cancer catarats.

Hormonal Therapy: The vast majority (80-85%) of breast cancer is hormone sensitive/driven. Pathology testing can determine if a tumor is er+. Unless otherwise contraindicated, all er+ patients should be considered for hormone therapy. If strongly er+, they may get more benefit from this than from chemotherapy. Specialized testing (oncotype dx) is often used to determine if chemotherapy is still needed in er+ pt.

Potentially: Brca tx may include chemo, hormones, radiation, bone targeted tx & diet/exercise as "adjvuant" (post surgery) treatment. The combo needed depends on the tumor characteristics (grade, stage, hormone receptor status - er, pr; and her2/neu status). Non chemo tx can include hormones - eg tamoxifen, arimidex, (anastrozole) etc; trastuzumab (herceptin - anti her2 antibody). Optimal therapy may include all those.

Yes: In some cases hormonal treatment can be as effective as chemotherapy. However if there is benefit from chemotherapy then it would be in addition to hormonal therapy. You should ask what percent benefit chemotherapy would give your circumstance and then decide if it's worth it to you to not accept that benefit.