Breast-Conserving Surgery With or Without Radiation Therapy for Early Breast Cancer

ABSTRACT

Breast conserving surgery (BCS) with radiation therapy (RT) has been considered an alternative to a radical mastectomy in the surgical treatment of early breast cancer. Breast-conserving therapy (BCT) can achieve a more favorable cosmetic outcome than a mastectomy in patients with early breast cancer. However, it is widely recognized that RT following BCS is an impediment to improve the cosmetic outcome of a BCT-treated breast. If the local recurrence (LR) rate is acceptable and LR can be controlled with salvage surgery, an appropriate conservative surgical procedure without RT will be a reasonable option for some patients with early breast cancer. Between 1990 and 1996, 60 patients were enrolled in a retrospective study to examine whether or not RT could be avoided following conservative surgery in patients with early breast cancer. There was no significant difference in local recurrence rate between the RT and the non-RT groups (6.3% vs 10.7%). The characteristics of suitable BCS without RT would be negative axillary lymph-node metastasis, low nuclear grade, a 1 cm negative resection margin and no lymphatic vessel involvement. In conclusion, breast-conserving surgery without RT is a reasonable option for some patients with early breast cancer.