Introduction Breast cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed in women worldwide. In the United States alone, more than 284,000 new cases are expected in 2021. Breast cancer mortality has declined in recent years, in part due to early diagnosis…
Introduction Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) comprises a heterogeneous group of tumors with a wide range of disease at diagnosis. Patients with LABC may present with large primary breast tumors with or without involvement of the chest wall or ulceration…
Introduction This chapter discusses the potential complications associated with the use of radiotherapy for breast cancer. These may occur in the weeks during or after radiation, decades after treatment, or even years after treatment in some cases. The time course…
Background and Rationale Randomized studies with greater than 20 years of long-term follow-up data have established equivalent outcomes in patients who undergo mastectomy or breast-conserving therapy. Studies have further shown increased rates of local recurrence with the omission of radiation…
Introduction Breast conservation has been the standard alternative to mastectomy for most patients with early-stage invasive breast cancer for decades. The purpose of breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is the removal of all gross disease from the breast, and as much microscopic…
Historical Perspective on Postmastectomy Radiation Therapy PMRT Prior to Systemic Therapy The use of postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) for improvement of breast cancer–specific outcomes has long been a topic of intense interest within the field of oncology. Prior to the…
Introduction Regional nodal irradiation (RNI) for localized breast cancer exemplifies the measurable oncologic advances of recent decades. While nodal status was previously considered a main prognostic and predictive factor to inform treatment, a constellation of other clinicopathologic parameters and molecular…
Role of Reconstruction in Breast Cancer Treatment Breast reconstruction is performed to correct anatomic abnormalities, and is considered a functional procedure following mastectomy or breast conservation therapy. Until the late 1970s and early 1980s, breast reconstruction was mostly performed in…
Introduction The radicality of mastectomy for breast cancer treatment has decreased over time, from Halsted’s radical mastectomy, which was standard of care until the 1960s, to Patey’s modified radical mastectomy that avoided the excision of the pectoralis muscle, based on…
Introduction For 100 years, starting in the 1870s, mastectomy reigned as the only treatment for breast cancer. Then, during the 1970s and 1980s, prospective randomized trials showed survival equivalence for breast conservation compared with mastectomy for patients with tumors <5…