Abstract
There is no subject as controversial as the treatment of early breast cancer in spite of 90,000 new cases per year and more than 30,000 deaths per year in the USA alone. Radical mastectomy has been in practice for over 80 years. Radiotherapy, alone, was used 50 years ago. Today, however, we are unable to state which is the method of choice in the management of early breast cancer. Radiotherapy did not become popular as the primary treatment modality during the radium and orthovoltage era because of technical problems. These technical problems have been overcome during the afterloading and supervoltage era. Unfortunately, we do not have a large series in radiotherapy to compare with those of 80 years of radical mastectomies. Until such time, radiotherapy will play an adjuvant and palliative role in the management of breast cancer patients.
Full text
PDF





Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Adair F., Berg J., Joubert L., Robbins G. F. Long-term followup of breast cancer patients: the 30-year report. Cancer. 1974 Apr;33(4):1145–1150. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197404)33:4<1145::aid-cncr2820330438>3.0.co;2-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- BLOOM H. J., RICHARDSON W. W., HARRIES E. J. Natural history of untreated breast cancer (1805-1933). Comparison of untreated and treated cases according to histological grade of malignancy. Br Med J. 1962 Jul 28;2(5299):213–221. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5299.213. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chu F. C., Lin F. J., Kim J. H., Huh S. H., Garmatis C. J. Locally recurrent carcinoma of the breast. Results of radiation therapy. Cancer. 1976 Jun;37(6):2677–2681. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197606)37:6<2677::aid-cncr2820370616>3.0.co;2-l. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cutler S. J., Myers M. H., Green S. B. Trends in survival rates of patients with cancer. N Engl J Med. 1975 Jul 17;293(3):122–124. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197507172930305. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Eisen H. M., Bosworth J. L., Ghossein N. A. The rationale for whole-spine irradiation in metastatic breast cancer. Radiology. 1973 Aug;108(2):417–418. doi: 10.1148/108.2.417. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fisher B., Slack N. H., Cavanaugh P. J., Gardner B., Ravdin R. G. Postoperative radiotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer: results of the NSABP clinical trial. Ann Surg. 1970 Oct;172(4):711–732. doi: 10.1097/00000658-197010000-00016. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Forrest A. P., Roberts M. M., Cant E., Shivas A. Simple mastectomy and pectoral node biopsy. Br J Surg. 1976 Aug;63(8):569–575. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800630802. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- KENNEDY B. J., MIELKE P. W., Jr, FORTUNY I. E. THERAPEUTIC CASTRATION VERSUS PROPHYLACTIC CASTRATION IN BREAST CANCER. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1964 Mar;118:524–540. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Levene M. B., Harris J. R., Hellman S. Treatment of carcinoma of the breast by radiation therapy. Cancer. 1977 Jun;39(6 Suppl):2840–2845. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197706)39:6<2840::aid-cncr2820390672>3.0.co;2-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McWHIRTER R. Cancer of the breast. Am J Roentgenol Radium Ther. 1949 Sep;62(3):335-40; Disc., 349-54. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- RICHARDS P., McKISSOCK W. Intracranial metastases. Br Med J. 1963 Jan 5;1(5322):15–18. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5322.15. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rissanen P. M. A comparison of conservative and radical surgery combined with radiotherapy in the treatment of stage I carcinoma of the breast. Br J Radiol. 1969 Jun;42(498):423–426. doi: 10.1259/0007-1285-42-498-423. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- STALEY C. J. Skeletal metastases in cancer of the breast. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1956 Jun;102(6):683–688. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Stjernswärd J. Decreased survival related to irradiation postoperatively in early operable breast cancer. Lancet. 1974 Nov 30;2(7892):1285–1286. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(74)90142-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- de Schryver A. The Stockholm breast cancer trial: preliminary report of a randomized study concerning the value of pre-operative or post-operative radiotherapy in operable disease. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1976 Jul-Aug;1(7-8):601–609. doi: 10.1016/0360-3016(76)90141-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]









