Locally advanced breast cancer and postmastectomy radiotherapy.
Most patients with locally advanced breast cancer should be treated with a combination of chemotherapy, mastectomy (with immediate reconstruction if the patient so desires), and radiotherapy. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to offer breast-conserving treatment to selected individuals who respond well to neoadjuvant therapy. Postmastectomy radiotherapy clearly reduces the risk of local-regional and distant failure for patients with earlier-stage invasive breast cancer with involved axillary lymph nodes. Certain subgroups of patients, however, may have such low local-regional failure rates that patients will not routinely find the benefits of radiotherapy sufficient to undergo such treatment. Further investigation of this issue is needed.
Recht
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Department of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. arecht@caregroup.harvard.edu
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D016462:Mammaplasty; D008408:Mastectomy; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000517:prevention & control; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012307:Risk Factors