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Updated: May 25, 2026
Single-Port Robotic-assisted Transaxillary Breast-conserving Surgery: A Prospective, Single-arm, Non-randomized Phase IIa Clinical Trial
Published on: August 19, 2025
Sequence of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in breast cancer after breast-conserving surgery
Jan J Jobsen1, Job van der Palen, Mariël Brinkhuis
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Medisch Spectrum Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. J.Jobsen@mst.nl
Purpose:
The optimal sequence of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in breast-conserving therapy is unknown.
Methods And Materials:
From 1983 through 2007, a total of 641 patients with 653 instances of breast-conserving therapy (BCT), received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy and are the basis of this analysis. Patients were divided into three groups. Groups A and B comprised patients treated before 2005, Group A radiotherapy first and Group B chemotherapy first. Group C consisted of patients treated from 2005 onward, when we had a fixed sequence of radiotherapy first, followed by chemotherapy.
Results:
Local control did not show any differences among the three groups. For distant metastasis, no difference was shown between Groups A and B. Group C, when compared with Group A, showed, on univariate and multivariate analyses, a significantly better distant metastasis-free survival. The same was noted for disease-free survival. With respect to disease-specific survival, no differences were shown on multivariate analysis among the three groups.
Conclusion:
Radiotherapy, as an integral part of the primary treatment of BCT, should be administered first, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.
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