title: Morbid obesity does not disadvantage patients with in situ or early-stage carcinoma undergoing breast-conserving surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether morbidly obese (MO) patients with early-stage breast cancer (BCa) benefit from standard-of-care interventions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 1992 and 2005, 100 patients underwent breast-conserving surgery and postoperative whole-breast irradiation of 50 Gy for minimally invasive BCa with tumor-free surgical margins. Twenty-seven MO women were compared to 73 non-morbidly obese (NMO) patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 10 years, the cumulative disease-free survival rate for the NMO patients was 91% compared to the non-statistically significant lower rate of 89% in the MO women (p=0.66). Patients who were excessively obese were not at an increased risk for local (p=0.99) or regional disease recurrence (p=0.29).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that patients with minimally invasive BCa and excessively large body habitus should not be disqualified from receiving breast-conserving therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Therapeutic Radiology, Louisiana State University Health, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71130, U.S.A. fampil@lsuhsc.edu.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ampil
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caldito
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Srinivas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Devarakonda
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.forename: Roger H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Quyen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000150:complications*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Morbid obesity; breast cancer; breast-conservation surgery; chemotherapy; radiotherapy