Radiotherapy 5: Rutqvist's 1996 Overview

Some additional studies have become available after the publication of my survey of post-mastectomy radiotherapy in late 1996.Ê This and any subsequent pages will provide links to that material.

G. RUTQVIST's 1996 OVERVIEW

Rutqvist LE, "Breast cancer," Acta Oncol 1996;35 Suppl 7:54-63

Rutqvist is a researcher at the Oncology Center, Stockholm, Sweden. In part, the abstract of this study says, "Radiotherapy in patients at high risk for locoregional recurrence, eg, patients with spread to the axillary lymph nodes, leads to a significant increase in relapse free survival (eg, 1, 3). Meta-analyses have shown that radiotherapy in these subgroups of patients can reduce the risk for distant metastasis and reduce the risk for cancer death. These analyses have not statistically confirmed an improvement in total survival, probably because reduced mortality from breast cancer has been offset by increased mortality from cardiovascular disease. However, the results have successively improved, and survival gains are significantly greater in recent studies using modern treatment methods."

I have not yet read the original article itself.

John
John E. Bonine (jbonine@oregon.uoregon.edu)

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