Radiotherapy in the management of primary and advanced breast cancer

Abstract

Radiation oncology clinical research continues to focus on long-term outcome results in the management of breast cancer. Patient-related endpoints, such as cosmesis and effects on normal tissue, are analyzed as well as disease-control endpoints, reflecting the excellent survival rates accompanying the diagnosis of this disease in its early stages.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the subject of clinical trials in more advanced disease; for the radiation oncologist and the patient this may allow breast conservation therapy in women previously treated by mastectomy. For these patients, postoperative radiation in preventing local failures and possibly extending the disease-free survival rates is being reexplored, with particular attention to patient selection and radiation technique.