BACKGROUND Since the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B06 (NSABP-B06) trial demonstrated equivalent survival outcomes between patients with breast cancer undergoing modified radical mastectomy versus lumpectomy and radiation, an increasing number of patients are seeking breast conservation therapy. Traditionally, only patients who have undergone total mastectomy have been ref...

BACKGROUND Breast cancer mortality rates are higher among African-American women compared with white American women, yet little is known regarding ethnicity-related variation in patterns of primary surgical treatment, locoregional recurrence rates, and response to induction chemotherapy. METHODS The available literature was reviewed to evaluate outcome from breast-conservation therapy in Afri...

BACKGROUND Germline mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Whether women with breast cancer who have inherited mutations in these genes have a different outcome after breast conservation therapy than women with "sporadic" cancer is unresolved. Consequently, we compared the outcomes after breast conservation therapy in Ashkenazi women with ...

PURPOSE To use 5 years of primary data to compare the incremental cost-effectiveness of breast conservation and radiation versus mastectomy with the restriction of choice to a single therapy versus providing a choice of either therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS We evaluated a random retrospective cohort of 2,517 Medicare beneficiaries treated for newly diagnosed stage I or II breast cancer from 19...

The primary administration of chemotherapy leads to a reduction in size of tumors, increasing the possibility of breast-conserving surgery in both locally advanced, inoperable and primary operable mamma carcinomas. This, however, increases the rate of local relapse and the rate of mastectomy over the course of the disease, even although the EUSOMA guidelines are not exceeded. Whether the pre-su...

INTRODUCTION The gradual acceptance of Fisher’s “Alternative Hypothesis” of the biology of breast cancer, as confirmed by numerous prospective trials of the past twenty years, has served to support the validity of breast conservation therapy, Appropriate questions are being raised as to whether irradiation is always necessary, especially in view of current evidence that local recurrence of brea...

OBJECTIVE Although breast conservation is therapeutically equivalent to mastectomy for most patients with early-stage breast cancer, an increasing number of patients are pursuing mastectomy, which may be followed by breast reconstruction. We sought to evaluate long-term quality of life and cosmetic outcomes after different locoregional management approaches, as perceived by patients themselves....