Postmastectomy radiotherapy in the management of operable breast cancer

There is a long and detailed history of radiation therapy as an adjuvant to surgery in operable breast cancer. The results of a large number of randomized clinical trials will be reviewed. They can be summarized by saying that although the trials show a reduction in local-regional failure with the use of postoperative radiotherapy, a survival advantage has not been clearly identified. Many of the older trials used techniques and radiation doses inadequate by current standards, which may have affected the results. Recent trials that used therapeutic doses of radiation, however, did demonstrate a survival advantage among patients who received postoperative radiotherapy. These trials generally have included chemotherapy and required careful integration of radiotherapy and systemic therapy. Although all trials have not demonstrated a survival benefit by the addition of radiotherapy, the ability to maintain local-regional control after mastectomy is an important goal. Administration of prophylactic chest wall and nodal radiotherapy to patients at high risk for local-regional recurrence significantly reduces the chance of a local treatment failure. Because a chest wall recurrence is a distressing event that dramatically affects quality of life, improved local-regional control with postoperative radiotherapy is a highly significant end point.