Abstract

In breast cancer patients, radiotherapy has a proven function in lowering local relapses. The goal of this review was to determine whether post-breast surgery radiation or its omission has measurable effects on local tumour recurrence and patient survival. The late excess of cardiac fatalities has also been reported in numerous papers, although significant developments in radiation administration have solved this issue to the point where it does not seem to be happening in more recent trials. This article reviews some recent data that suggests radiation after mastectomy and/or breast conserving surgery improves survival. The probability of ipsilateral breast tumour recurrence is greatly increased when radiation is skipped, although the risk of patient mortality is only slightly increased.