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Successful management of elderly breast cancer patients treated without radiotherapy

Breast cancer in the elderly may follow a less aggressive course. There are data suggesting that radiotherapy (RT) following breast conserving surgery (BCS) for invasive carcinoma may not be necessary in some elderly patients. The addition of RT to surgery might constitute an imposition to such pati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World journal of surgical oncology 2007-06, Vol.5 (1), p.62-62, Article 62
Main Authors: Valassiadou, Kalliope, Morgan, David A L, Robertson, John F R, Pinder, Sarah E, Cheung, Kwok-Leung
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Breast cancer in the elderly may follow a less aggressive course. There are data suggesting that radiotherapy (RT) following breast conserving surgery (BCS) for invasive carcinoma may not be necessary in some elderly patients. The addition of RT to surgery might constitute an imposition to such patients due to age-related factors. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of BCS without adjuvant RT in this group of patients. A retrospective review of 92 elderly (median age 75 years; range: 70 - 87 years) patients (analysed as 93 'patients' due to one patient having bilateral cancers) managed in a dedicated breast clinic and who underwent BCS for invasive carcinoma was carried out. Eighty-three patients did not receive postoperative RT to the breast (no-RT group) whereas the remaining 10 had RT (RT-group). The median age in this group was 75 (range 70 - 87) years. The mean tumour size was 18 mm with a median follow-up of 37 (range 6 - 142) months. In the no RT group, adjuvant endocrine therapy with tamoxifen was given to 40/53 patients. No patients in the oestrogen receptor (ER) negative group received tamoxifen. The local recurrence (LR) rate in this group was 8.4% (2.4% per year, n = 7/83), with median time to LR of 17 months. In this no-RT group LR was correlated to ER status (2/53 ER+, 5/26ER-, p = 0.024) and margins of excision (n = 1/54 >5 mm, 2/17 1-5 mm, 4/12
ISSN:1477-7819
1477-7819
DOI:10.1186/1477-7819-5-62