Results of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy in the breast-conserving treatment of 250 patients with all stages of infiltrative breast cancer

Article Abstract:

Breast-conserving therapy has become more popular as a treatment for breast cancer and as an alternative to mastectomy. Breast-conserving therapy is generally used for early stages of breast cancer, when the prognosis is most favorable. In a review of 250 cases of breast cancer at all stages, researchers found that breast-conserving surgery can be a viable alternative for all patients, including those with more advanced disease. Even in patients with early stage disease, some postoperative therapy is necessary to eliminate micrometastases, those undetectable, small colonies of spreading cancer cells that would eventually result in relapse. By using more aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy after surgery, improvements in the survival of all breast cancer patients can be obtained. The overall 5-year survival rates for the 250 patients, who had breast-conserving surgery, were: 95 percent for patients with early Stage I disease; 94 percent for Stage IIA; 80 percent for Stage IIB; 60 percent for Stage IIIA; and 58 percent for the advanced Stage IIIB cancer. The majority of patients were able to obtain and maintain good or excellent cosmetic results. The researchers suggest that further improvement might be obtained with developments in aggressive adjuvant therapy following breast-conserving therapy, and that most patients should be given the option of having breast-conserving therapy instead of mastectomy. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Surgery, Breast cancer, Radiotherapy

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Primary lymphoma of the central nervous system: an unresolved therapeutic problem

Article Abstract:

Lymphomas of the central nervous system are relatively rare; only about 1 percent of all brain tumors are lymphomas. Thirty-five cases of primary central nervous system lymphoma, all of which were of the non-Hodgkin's type, were reviewed. The median survival time was found to be three years, and the disease-free survival time was 16 months. Among the cases reviewed, there were no statistically significant differences between the patients receiving radiotherapy and those receiving both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The relapse rate was 37.5 percent, and only one relapsing patient survived past eight months. Other reports have suggested that the long-term survival rate for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the central nervous system is roughly 10 percent. Although some researchers have suggested that chemotherapy plays an important role in the management of central nervous system lymphoma, this position is not supported by the cases reviewed here. Perhaps further research with more effective chemotherapeutic protocols may result in more promising survival rates. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Care and treatment, Evaluation, Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, Nervous system tumors

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