Management of local-regional recurrence following immediate breast reconstruction in patients with early breast cancer treated without postmastectomy radiotherapy.

Background: Young age is an independent risk factor for local-regional recurrence after mastectomy in patients with T1/T2 tumors with zero or one to three positive lymph nodes. The authors evaluated the current incidence and management of local-regional recurrence after immediate breast reconstruction in patients with T1/T2 tumors and zero to three positive lymph nodes who did not receive postmastectomy radiotherapy.

Methods: Clinical and pathologic factors were identified for 495 patients with T1/T2 tumors and zero to three positive lymph nodes who were treated with mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction between 1997 and 2002 and did not receive primary systemic chemotherapy or postmastectomy radiation therapy.

Present-day locoregional control in patients with t1 or t2 breast cancer with 0 and 1 to 3 positive lymph nodes after mastectomy without radiotherapy.

Background: We sought to determine present-day locoregional recurrence (LRR) rates to better understand the role of postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in women with 0 to 3 positive lymph nodes.

Methods: Clinical and pathologic factors were identified for 1019 patients with pT1 or pT2 tumors and 0 (n = 753), 1 (n = 176), 2 (n = 69), or 3 (n = 21) positive lymph nodes treated with mastectomy without PMRT during 1997 to 2002. Total LRR rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and compared between subgroups by the log rank test.

Breast cancer and lymphedema: a current overview for the healthcare provider.

Lymphedema is a troublesome condition faced by many breast cancer survivors today. Since lymphedema represents a debilitating and progressive problem that is feared by most breast cancer patients and their providers, an up-to-date understanding is necessary in order to better diagnose, treat and manage these patients. The etiology of lymphedema is multifactorial and poorly understood.