title: Primary radiotherapy for T4 breast cancer.
abstract: In Edinburgh in 1982, radiotherapy for patients with T4 breast cancer was modified by an increase in tumour absorbed dose from 42.5-45.0 Gy to 60-75 Gy by using tumour boosts and changing from alternate day to daily fractions. To assess whether this improved local control or survival, the records of all females with T4-N0-3M0 breast cancer referred between January 1978 and December 1985, who received radiotherapy without initial mastectomy or adjuvant chemotherapy, were reviewed. There were 193 patients in the study. Minimum follow-up was 36 months. Actuarial survival at 5 years was 27.1% and median survival 29 months. Local control was achieved by 25.9%. On multivariate analysis, the probability of survival fell with increasing tumour size, advanced clinical node status and the presence of inflammatory change. Radiotherapy technique also affected prognosis. Four-field techniques were associated with a better chance of survival than the breast and axillary jig or other treatment methods. The probability of local control increased with reduced tumour size and showed the same relationship to radiotherapy technique as did survival. Dose was not a significant variable for either survival or local control. No improvement in survival or local control was apparent in comparison with a previous study. It is concluded that radiotherapy alone at a dose of 60 Gy is insufficient to produce durable local control for the majority of women with T4 breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Western General Hospital and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodger
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D015996:Survival Rate