Breast-conserving surgery and radiotherapy in early-stage breast cancer: the importance of local control.
Breast-conserving therapy is a successful, well-studied, and scientifically validated treatment of early-stage breast carcinoma. This approach has enormously improved the quality of life and cosmetic outcome for appropriately selected and treated patients while achieving the same long-term survival rates as mastectomy. This article reviews the evidence showing the importance of achieving initial local control to maximize breast cancer-specific survival rates, the impact of systemic therapy on the local control rates achieved with breast-conserving therapy, the integration of chemotherapy with radiation therapy, and the role of breast magnetic resonance imaging in breast-conserving therapy.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA. arecht@bidmc.harvard.edu
Abram
A
Recht
Lawrence J
LJ
Solin
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental / Q000379:methods*; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015996:Survival Rate