Should chest wall irradiation be included after mastectomy and negative node breast cancer?
This study aims to evaluate local failure patterns in node negative breast cancer patients treated with post-mastectomy radiotherapy including internal mammary chain only. Retrospective analysis of 92 internal or central-breast node-negative tumours with mastectomy and external irradiation of the internal mammary chain at the dose of 50 Gy, from 1994 to 1998. Local recurrence rate was 5 % (five cases). Recurrence sites were the operative scare and chest wall. Factors associated with increased risk of local failure were age<or = 40 years and tumour size greater than 20mm, without statistical significance.
Post-mastectomy radiotherapy should be discussed for a sub-group of node-negative patients with predictors factors of local failure such as age<or = 40 years and larger tumour size.