[Interstitial radiotherapy of breast cancer. Preliminary report of a prospective study of 165 cases subjected to breast-conserving treatment].

Unlabelled: The results of a prospective study on breast conserving therapy in early stage breast cancer are presented. From January 1983 to June 1987 165 patients were treated by a standardized therapy-protocol. The criteria for entering the trial were stage T1 to T2 and N0 to N1. Surgical breast conservation was achieved by segmental resection in 148 cases and by tumorectomy in 17 cases. 160 patients underwent axillary lymph node dissection. Obligatory 45 to 50 Gy were delivered percutaneously to the operated breast and optional 50 Gy to the regional lymph nodes (axillary lymph node involvement greater than 3 nodes). In addition, the area of the primary breast lesion itself was boosted interstitially by an Iridium 192 implant (LDR-technique: 15 to 20 Gy, HDR-technique: 10 to 12 Gy).

Results: Progression of disease in 10% of the patients (16/165), local recurrence rate in the operated breast: 2% (3/165), axillary recurrence: 0.5% (1/165). 5% of the patients (8/165) died from metastatic disease, two patients died free of recurrence for reasons unrelated to cancer, two other patients died on unknown reasons. Because of the low number of local recurrences and the observation period of 32 months, no statistically contribution on high risk factors for local failure could be found.