title: Treatment of carcinoma of the breast by radiation therapy.
abstract: One hundred and fifty patients with carcinoma of the breast were treated by radiation therapy without mastectomy. Seventy-seven patients had excisional biopsy of the breast mass while the remainder had incisional biopsy or needle biopsy. There has been 100% local control in patients with Stage I or Stage II disease. The local control rate in Stage III is 67.5%. Those patients who had excisional biopsy had a significantly lower incidence of local recurrence than did those in whom the tumor was left in situ. The cumulative survival probability at five years is 100% for Stage I, 65% for Stage II and 26% for Stage III. Recommendations are made concerning axillary node sampling and adjuvant chemotherapy for patients treated by this technique.
mesh_terms: D001917:Brachial Plexus / Q000293:injuries; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D011832:Radiation Injuries; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000009:adverse effects