[Local recurrences of carcinoma of the breast (author's transl)]

Distant metastases were sought for in 90 patients with local recurrence of breast carcinoma. Only 11 patients had demonstrable spread of the disease at the time of referral. Two-thirds of all local recurrences presented within two years of the primary operation. In 66 out of 90 patients the recurrence was in the chest wall, in 11 cases it was in the chest wall and in the lymphatic system and in only 13 cases was it primarily in the regional lymph nodes. The recurrence rate depended mainly on the previous treatment of the primary tumour: 42 recurrences were found in those cases treated only by surgery, 46 in cases treated surgically and with low-dose post-operative irradiation and only two in patients treated with over 4500 rad to the area of subsequent recurrence.