Treatment of carcinoma of the breast by radiation therapy

Abstract

One hundred and fifty patients with carcinoma of the breast were treated by radiation therapy without mastectomy. Seventy‐seven patients had excisional biopsy of the breast mass while the remainder had incisional biopsy or needle biopsy. There has been 100% local control in patients with Stage I or Stage II disease. The local control rate in Stage III is 67.5%. Those patients who had excisional biopsy had a significantly lower incidence of local recurrence than did those in whom the tumor was left in situ. The cumulative survival probability at five years is 100% for Stage I, 65% for Stage II and 26% for Stage III. Recommendations are made concerning axillary node sampling and adjuvant chemotherapy for patients treated by this technique. Copyright © 1977 American Cancer Society