Postoperative radiotherapy for breast cancer is known to substantially reduce the risk of locoregional recurrence, both when given after mastectomy and after breast-conserving surgery. Recent reports [cited below] suggest that radiotherapy following mastectomy may also have a beneficial impact on survival, and the article by Vinh-Hung et al. (1), published in this issue of the Journal, further ...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of radiotherapy on quality of life (QOL) of breast cancer patients during and until 1 year post radiotherapy treatment. METHODS AND MATERIALS Thirty-nine breast cancer patients treated with breast conserving surgery were enrolled in a prospective study prior to whole breast radiotherapy (50 Gy plus a 10 Gy boost). No patien...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Tissue hardness (induration), pain and tenderness are common late adverse effects of curative radiotherapy for early breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of IH636 grape seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE) in patients with tissue induration after high-dose radiotherapy for early breast cancer in a double-blind placebo-controlled randomised pha...

BACKGROUND In early breast cancer, variations in local treatment that substantially affect the risk of locoregional recurrence could also affect long-term breast cancer mortality. To examine this relationship, collaborative meta-analyses were undertaken, based on individual patient data, of the relevant randomised trials that began by 1995. METHODS Information was available on 42,000 women in...

BACKGROUND Randomized trials of radiotherapy and surgery for early breast cancer may have been too small to detect differences in long-term survival and recurrence reliably. We therefore performed a systematic overview (meta-analysis) of the results of such trials. METHODS Information was sought on each subject from investigators who conducted trials that began before 1985 and that compared l...

OBJECTIVES To determine if the length of interval between breast conserving surgery and start of radiotherapy affects local recurrence and to identify factors that might be associated with delay in older women with breast cancer. DESIGN Retrospective cohort analysis with Cox proportional hazards models to study the association between time to radiotherapy and local recurrence, and propensity ...

BACKGROUND Breast-conservation surgery with radiotherapy is a treatment highly recommended by the guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. However, several variables influence the final receipt of radiotherapy and it might not be administered to breast cancer patients. Our objective is to propose a systematic framework to identify the clinical and non-clinical variables that i...

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to estimate the secondary cancer risk of thyroid for standard radiotherapy methods which are commonly used for breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Sixty-four breast cancer patients (their age range was around 50 years old) who referred to Seyed- Al- Shohada hospital (Isfahan, Iran) were included in this ...

Objective: Radiochromic EBT3 film is a later generation of radiochromic films. The aim of this study is to compare EBT and EBT3 radiochromic films in radiotherapy fields of breast cancer.Methods: A RANDO phantom was irradiated by a 6 MV Siemens Primus linac with medial and lateral fields of radiotherapy of breast cancer. Dosimetry was performed in various points in the fields using EBT and EBT3...

Recent evidence suggests that the risk of major coronary events after breast radiotherapy is linearly related to mean radiation dose received by the heart and that there is no threshold dose below which this risk is nullified. In addition, these effects are visible within the first four years after radiotherapy, much earlier than had previously been recognised. With numbers of breast cancer sur...