title: The curative value of irradiation in the treatment of nondisseminated breast cancer.
abstract: Data are now available from two randomized trials showing that adjuvant irradiation of the internal mammary and supraclavicular nodes following a radical or modified radical mastectomy results in increased survival rates. A retrospective analysis of 1111 patients treated at M. D. Anderson Hospital with radical mastectomies with and without irradiation to the peripheral lymphatic areas shows equal ten-year survival rates in irradiated and unirradiated patients in spite of the fact that the irradiated patients had a much higher incidence of histologically positive nodes. There is a significant percentage of patients surviving ten-years in 353 patients with locally or regionally advanced tumors treated with simple mastectomy and irradiation without chemotherapy. Radiation of gross local and regional recurrences has a high risk of failure and radiation sequelae.
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008408:Mastectomy; D013997:Time Factors