[Trial of systemic postoperative irradiation of breast cancer]

Most of all women submitted to radical operation for a loco-regionally advanced mammary carcinoma show a fateful latent formation of remote metastases necessitating a total body treatment. In a pilot study twenty patients underwent instead of adjuvant chemotherapy an irradiation of both the upper and lower body part administered in two sessions with a dose of 8 Gy to the lung and the median body line, respectively, in order to reduce or to destroy micrometastases. The irradiations were given in one day at intervals of three to four weeks. They were well tolerated. A negative influence on the disease has not yet been observed, however, the manifestation of metastases seems to be delayed. The method is not expensive and involves little inconvenience for the patient, on the other hand it still seems to be capable of improvement.