Table 1.
Treatment and patient characteristics
| Ontario | START Pilot | START A | START B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Canada | UK | UK | UK |
| Time of accrual | 1993–1996 | 1986–1998 | 1998–2002 | 1999–2001 |
| patients, n | 1234 | 1410 | 2236 | 2215 |
| Mastectomy | 0% | 0% | 15% | 8% |
| Standard-RT | 50 Gy/25 fx in 5 we. | 50 Gy/25 fx in 5 we. | 50 Gy/25 fx in 5 we. | 50 Gy/25 fx in 5 we. |
| Hypofract. RT (1) | 42.5 Gy/16 fx in 3.1 we. | 39 Gy/13 fx in 5 we. | 39 Gy/13 fx in 5 we. | 40 Gy/15 fx in 3 we. |
| Hypofract. RT (2) | – | 42.9 Gy/13 fx in 5 we. | 41.6 Gy/13 fx in 5 we. | – |
| Boost-RT | 0% | 74.5% (14 Gy/7 fx) | 60.6% (10 Gy/5 fx) | 42.6% (10 Gy/5 fx) |
| Regional-RT | 0% | 20.6% | 14.2% | 7.3% |
| Mean age | 50–59 years | 54.5 years | 57.2 years | 57.4 years |
| LN positive | 0% | 32.7% | 28.8% | 22.8% |
| Tumor size >=T2 | 20.0% | 42.5% | 48.6% | 35.9% |
| Adjuvant CHX | 11.0% | 13.9% | 35.5% | 22.2% |