Management of local-regional recurrence following immediate breast reconstruction in patients with early breast cancer treated without postmastectomy radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Young age is an independent risk factor for local-regional recurrence after mastectomy in patients with T1/T2 tumors with zero or one to three positive lymph nodes. The authors evaluated the current incidence and management of local-regional recurrence after immediate breast reconstruction in patients with T1/T2 tumors and zero to three positive lymph nodes who did not receive postmastectomy radiotherapy. METHODS: Clinical and pathologic factors were identified for 495 patients with T1/T2 tumors and zero to three positive lymph nodes who were treated with mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction between 1997 and 2002 and did not receive primary systemic chemotherapy or postmastectomy radiation therapy. RESULTS: Autologous tissue-based reconstruction was performed in 70 percent of patients, and 30 percent had tissue expander placement. At a median follow-up of 7.5 years, local-regional recurrence had occurred in 16 patients (3.2 percent). Independent predictors of local-regional recurrence were age 40 years or less, estrogen receptor-negative tumors, and T2 (versus T1) tumors (p < 0.05). Multimodality therapy was utilized for all 16 patients with local-regional recurrence. Nine patients (56.3 percent) who had an isolated local-regional recurrence had a 100 percent local control rate and were treated with curative intent. The 10-year overall survival rate for patients with an isolated local-regional recurrence (87.5 percent) was not significantly different from that for patients without a local-regional recurrence (90.3 percent; p = 0.234). CONCLUSIONS: Routine use of postmastectomy radiation therapy in this heterogeneous patient population should be discouraged to allow more patients to undergo immediate breast reconstruction and ease the burden on plastic surgeons who have had to confront the problems of reconstruction in the face of perioperative radiation in an ever-increasing number of patients.

Present-day locoregional control in patients with t1 or t2 breast cancer with 0 and 1 to 3 positive lymph nodes after mastectomy without radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine present-day locoregional recurrence (LRR) rates to better understand the role of postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in women with 0 to 3 positive lymph nodes. METHODS: Clinical and pathologic factors were identified for 1019 patients with pT1 or pT2 tumors and 0 (n = 753), 1 (n = 176), 2 (n = 69), or 3 (n = 21) positive lymph nodes treated with mastectomy without PMRT during 1997 to 2002. Total LRR rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and compared between subgroups by the log rank test. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 7.47 years, the overall 10-year LRR rate was 2.7%. The only independent predictor of LRR was younger age (P = 0.004). Patients ≤40 years old had a 10-year LRR rate of 11.3 vs. 1.5% for older patients (P < 0.0001). The 10-year rate of LRR in patients with 1 to 3 positive nodes was 4.3% (94.4% had systemic therapy), which was not significantly different from the 10-year risk of contralateral breast cancer development (6.5%; P > 0.5). Compared with the 10-year LRR rate among patients with node-negative disease (2.1%), patients with 1 positive node had a similar 10-year LRR risk (3.3%; P > 0.5), and patients with 2 positive nodes had a 10-year LRR risk of 7.9% (P = 0.0003). Patients with T2 tumors with 1 to 3 positive nodes had a 10-year LRR rate of 9.7%. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with T1 and T2 breast cancer with 0 to 3 positive nodes, LRR rates after mastectomy are low, with the exception of patients ≤40 years old. The indications for PMRT in patients treated in the current era should be reexamined.

Breast cancer and lymphedema: a current overview for the healthcare provider.

Lymphedema is a troublesome condition faced by many breast cancer survivors today. Since lymphedema represents a debilitating and progressive problem that is feared by most breast cancer patients and their providers, an up-to-date understanding is necessary in order to better diagnose, treat and manage these patients. The etiology of lymphedema is multifactorial and poorly understood. Although lymphedema is not clearly defined within the medical community, there are several diagnostic tools available to the clinician, of which the most widely accepted in the clinical setting are the arm circumference measurements. Misinformation has recently been conveyed regarding activity recommendations for those patients afflicted with lymphedema. These recent events highlight the critical importance of education, heightened awareness and dedicated future cooperative research in order to favorably impact on lymphedema care and the quality of life for those living with lymphedema.