Table 2.
Patient characteristics at second radiation course.
| Characteristic at diagnosis of recurrence | Value |
|---|---|
| Patients (n) | 42 |
| Age (y) | |
| Median | 57 |
| Range | 33-75 |
| Time to first recurrence (months) | |
| Median | 33 |
| Range | 9-400 |
| Number of recurrences until re-irradiation | |
| 1 | 23 |
| 2 | 13 |
| more than 2 (range) | 6 (3-5) |
| Site of recurrence (n) | |
| Chest wall | 31 |
| In-breast recurrence | 8 |
| Regional nodal | 3 |
| Surgery of recurrence preceeding re-irradiation (n) | |
| Mastectomy | 9* |
| Local excision | 22 |
| Inoperable | 11 |
| pR-status for operable patients (n) | |
| R0 | 14 |
| R1 | 16 |
| R2 | 1 |
| Re-Radiation treatment of recurrence | |
| Total radiation chest wall dose (Gy) | |
| Median dose | 60 |
| Range | 45-66 |
| Lymph node irradiation (n) | 15# |
| Cumulative radiation dose (Gy) | |
| Median dose | 110 |
| Range | 85-126 |
| Concurrent hyperthermia (n) | 29 |
| Photons (n) | 24 |
| Electrons (n) | 18 |
| Time between both radiation courses (months) | |
| Median | 53 |
| Range | 12-401 |
| Systemic treatment of recurrent breast cancer (n) | |
| Sequential chemotherapy | 17 |
| Hormonal treatment | 19 |
*15 Salvage mastectomies were performed at first recurrence explaining the lower number of mastectomies at time of re-irradiation.
#Lymph node irradiation was normally restricted to sites initially not irradiated, i.e. axillary nodes.