Conservative surgery and radiotherapy for early-staged breast cancer

WH Kwan, PML Teo, W Yeo, P Yu, PHK Choi, PJ Johnson
Department of Clinical Oncology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong

From May 1987 to December 1994, 54 Chinese women with clinical American Joint Committee on Cancer stage I or II breast cancers were treated with breast conservation surgery and radiotherapy at the Prince of Wales Hospital. All patients had invasive carcinoma. Forty-seven patients had pathological axillary lymph node staging. With a median follow up interval of almost two years, the projected five-year actuarial survival and relapse-free survival for the whole group were 75.3% and 79.9%, respectively. The five-year local failure rate, regional failure rate, and distant metastasis rate were 3%, 5%, and 16.5%, respectively, and 83.3% of patients were free of radiation complications. These results compare favourably with other series reported for Caucasians. Careful patient selection and proper integration of the surgical, pathological, and radiotherapeutic aspects of treatment are essential. Breast conserving therapy and radiotherapy should be considered as an alternative to mastectomy in stage I and I1 breast cancer patients.

Hong Kong Med J 1996;2:47-55

Key words: Breast neoplasms; Surgery, plastic; Radiotherapy