BACKGROUND Patients with the previous history of breast cancer are in risk of contralateral breast cancer. On the other hand, increased breast density is a risk factor for breast cancer and the sensitivity of detecting nonpalpable cancers in screening mammography in radiographically dense breasts is low. The use of ultrasonography in dense breast remains a controversial topic. The purpose of th...

BACKGROUND Postmastectomy breast reconstruction increased approximately 20% between 1998 and 2008 in the United States and has been found to improve body image, self-esteem, and quality of life. These procedures, however, tend to be less common among minority women, which may be due to variations in health care access. The Department of Defense provides equal health care access, thereby affordi...

BACKGROUND To define the dosimetric coverage of level I/II axillary volumes and the lung volume irradiated in postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) following tissue expander placement. METHODS AND MATERIALS Twenty-three patients were identified who had undergone postmastectomy radiotherapy with tangent only fields. All patients had pre-radiation tissue expander placement and expansion. Thirteen ...

BACKGROUND : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of postmastectomy breast reconstruction on the timing of chemotherapy. METHODS : The authors included stage I-III breast cancer patients from 8 National Comprehensive Cancer Network institutions for whom guidelines recommended chemotherapy. Surgery type was categorized as breast-conserving surgery (BCS), mastectomy alone, maste...

PURPOSE Postmastectomy radiotherapy (RT) in high-risk breast cancer patients can reduce locoregional recurrences (LRRs) and improve disease-free and overall survival. The aim of this analysis was to examine the overall disease recurrence pattern among patients randomly assigned to receive treatment with or without RT. PATIENTS AND METHODS A long-term follow-up was performed among the 3,083 pa...

The aim of this study was to quantify the variation in doses to organs at risk (ipsilateral lung and heart) and the clinical target volume (CTV) in the presence of breast implants. In this retrospective cohort study, patients were identified through the National Breast Cancer Register. Consecutive breast cancer patients undergoing mastectomy between 2009 and 2011 and completing a full course of...