K. Mokbel and A. Elkak, St George's Breast Cancer Centre, St George's Hospital, London SW17 0QT, UK Radiotherapy Houghton et al. examined whether the benefit of adjuvant RT after BCS was mainly restricted to patients with inadequate margins. After a median follow-up of 9.7 years, the authors found that RT reduced the IBTR rate by 31% (95% CI = 22-54%). This reduction in local recurrence was independent of margin status. IBTR was reduced by 32% in patients with clear margins and 36% in patients with involved margins. As expected, there was no significant difference in OS between the RT and no RT groups. Two presentations focused on the role of adjuvant RT after BCS in older women. In a study of 769 women with node-negative breast cancer and > 50 years (T1/T2), Fyles et al. confirmed that adjuvant RT plus Tam was associated with a significantly higher DFS at four years compared with Tam alone (DFS = 99.7% and 94%, respectively, p = 0.0009). There was no significant difference in OS (94.7% and 92.8%, respectively). However, longer follow-up is required.In a study of 647 women (> 70 years of age) with clinical stage I and ER-positive breast cancer, Hughes et al. observed a low annual incidence of locoregional failure in patients receiving Tam only (0.9%) compared with Tam + RT (0%). However, the median follow-up is only 28 months, and therefore longer follow-up is required to reach meaningful conclusions. Current Medical Research and Opinion 17(2):116-122, 2001. © 2001 LibraPharm Limited Ann's NOTE: You can see that overall survival or OS is not improved. Int J Oncol, 8/02 Cancer Radiother, 12/03 JNCI, 12/06 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.