Brustkrebs: Aktuelle Forschung

Abstrakt

Delaying Radiotherapy and Risk of Recurrences in Patients with Breast Cancer Stage I And II. A Retrospective Observational Study

Cobos-Campos Raquel and Lasso-Varela Aurora*

Objectives: There is no consensus about the implications of the delay of RT beginning in the incidence of recurrences and mortality of patients with breast cancer. We carried out a retrospective study to assess if the delay of RT beginning can increase the risk of recurrences and mortality.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study including women with a primary diagnosis of breast cancer stage I or II, between January 2003 and December 2008. All patients received surgery, RT and adjuvant chemotherapy, and were followed for a 5 years after diagnosis. Data was obtained from the medical records. The incidence of recurrence and mortality was assessed by logistic regression adjusting for variables that might affect the prognosis of the disease (age, hormone receptors, lymph node involvement, type of chemotherapy, hormone therapy, etc.), and was expressed with the Odds Ratio (OR).

Results: We have not found association between the risk of relapse and delay of RT starting (OR 2.819; 95% CI 0.635-12.506, p=0.173). We have not found association between the risk of mortality by all cause and delay of RT starting (OR 0.993; 95% CI 0.210-4.407, p=0.961).

Conclusions: In view of the results obtained, delaying the start of RT does not seem to increase the risk of recurrences or mortality.