Ipsilateral axillary recurrence after breast conservative surgery: The protective effect of whole breast radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: Whole breast radiotherapy (WBRT) is one of the possible reasons for the low rate of axillary recurrence after breast-conserving surgery (BCS).

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively collected data from 4,129 consecutive patients with breast cancer ⩽2cm and negative sentinel lymph node who underwent BCS between 1997 and 2007. We compared the risk of axillary lymph node recurrence between patients treated by WBRT (n=2939) and patients who received partial breast irradiation (PBI; n=1,190) performed by a single dose of electron intraoperative radiotherapy.