MANAGEMENT OF EARLY BREAST CANCER

Abstract

This chapter is an overview of the current policies in the management of early breast cancer in Latin America, based on relevant papers published over the last ten years in the literature. We examine the recommendations for breast cancer diagnosis and staging, and treatment for Stage 0 through Stage IIB (T1-2, N0-1) disease. Early stage breast cancer management by the radiation oncologist may be as simple as considering breast conservative surgery followed by irradiation of the whole breast as the standard of care. However, in daily practice, different scenarios of the same disease may represent a challenge, mostly regarding regional lymph node irradiation in the presence of risk factors versus avoiding adjuvant irradiation. Each department should develop guidelines based on a multidisciplinary approach and tailor radiotherapy not only in the indication, but also in the definition of the radiation targets and respective doses.