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Major complication Radiation therapyEquivalent Dose in 2 Gy fractions (EQD2; a/b ¼ 3.5) varied from 43.4 to 71.0 Gy (median dose: 48.6 Gy).Boost radiation therapy was administered to 49 patients. Major post-radiation therapy complications were observed in 24 (7.6%) patients. In multivariate analysis, an increasing EQD2 per Gy (odds ratio [OR]: 1.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.26e1.98; p < 0.001), current smoking status (OR: 25.48, 95% CI: 1.56 e415.65; p ¼ 0.023), and prosthetic breast reconstruction (OR: 9.28, 95% CI: 1.84e46.70; p ¼ 0.007) were independently associated with an increased risk of major complications. Conclusion:A dose-response relationship between radiation dose and the risk of complications was validated in this multi-center dataset. In this context, we hypothesize that the use of hypofractionated radiotherapy (40 Gy in 15 fractions) may improve breast reconstruction outcomes. Our multi-center prospective observational study (NCT03523078) is underway to further validate this hypothesis.

Purpose We conducted this study to investigate the prognosis and failure pattern after breast-conserving treatment (BCT) in patients with occult breast cancer (OBC) with negative breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (MRI-OBC). Materials and methods Survival rates and failure patterns in 66 patients who received axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and BCT for MRI-OBC between 2001 and 2013 at seven hospitals were analyzed. OBC was defined as adenocarcinoma in the axillary lymph node (ALN) +/− supraclavicular (SCN) or internal mammary lymph node (IMN) with a negative breast MRI. Results Fifty-four patients had only ALN metastasis (ALN only), and 12 patients had ALN metastasis along with SCN or IMN metastasis (ALN + SCN/IMN). Median follow-up was 82 months. The 5-year overall, disease-free, and breast cancer-free survival rates were 93.4%, 92.1%, and 96.8%, respectively. Nine patients experienced recurrence: breast (n = 4), regional lymph nodes (RLN, n = 1), distant metastases (DM, n = 2), breast/RLN (n = 1), and breast/RLN/DM (n = 1). Five-year disease-free survival was significantly higher in ALN only patients compared to ALN + SCN/IMN patients (96.1% vs. 75.0%; p = 0.02). Conclusions Patients with MRI-OBC were successfully treated with BCT. There was a small risk of ipsilateral breast cancer recurrence. Failure patterns depended on the extent of initial disease.

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Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is well known for its aggressive course and poor prognosis. In this study, we sought to investigate clinical, demographic, and pathologic characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with refractory, metastatic TNBC selected by a clinical data warehouse (CDW) approach. Patients and methods: Data were extracted from the real-time breast cancer registry integrated into the Data Analytics and Research Window for Integrated Knowledge C (DARWIN-C), the CDW of Samsung Medical Center. Between January 1997 and December 2019, a TNBC cohort was searched for in the breast cancer registry, which includes records from more than 40,000 patients. Among them, cases of pathologically confirmed metastatic TNBC (mTNBC) were selected as the cohort group (n = 451). The extracted data from the registry via the CDW platform included clinical, pathological, laboratory, and chemotherapy information. Refractory TNBC was defined as confirmed distant metastasis within one year after adjuvant treatment. Results: This study comprised a total of 451 patients with mTNBC, including 69 patients with de novo mTNBC, 131 patients in the nonrefractory TNBC group with confirmed stage IV disease after one year of adjuvant treatment, and 251 patients with refractory mTNBC, whose disease recurred as stage IV within one year after completing adjuvant treatment. The refractory mTNBC cohort was composed of patients with disease that recurred at stage IV after surgery (refractory mTNBC after surgery) (n = 207) and patients in whom metastasis was confirmed during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (unresectable TNBC due to progression during neoadjuvant chemotherapy) (n = 44). Patients in the refractory mTNBC group were younger than those in the nonrefractory group (median age 46 vs. 51 years; p < 0.001). Considering the pathological findings, the refractory group had a greater proportion of cases with Ki-67 ≥ 3+ than did the nonrefractory group (71% vs. 47%; p = 0.004). During a median 8.4 years of follow-up, the overall survival was 24.8 months in the nonrefractory mTNBC group and 14.3 months in the refractory mTNBC group (p < 0.001), and the median progression-free survival periods were 6.2 months and 4.2 months, respectively (p < 0.001). The median disease-free survival period was 30.1 months in the nonrefractory mTNBC group and only 7.6 months in the refractory mTNBC group. Factors related to metastatic sites affecting overall survival were liver metastasis at diagnosis (p < 0.001) and leptomeningeal involvement (p = 0.001). Conclusions: We revealed that patients with refractory mTNBC had a much poorer prognosis among all mTNBC cases and described the characteristics of this patient group.

ObjectiveThe para-aortic lymph nodes are one of the most common sites in recurrent cervical cancer. However, treatment strategies for para-aortic lymph node recurrence have not yet been established.This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic factors and treatment outcomes in patients with para-aortic lymph node recurrence after curative radiotherapy for cervical cancer.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed patients who developed para-aortic lymph node recurrence following curative radiation therapy for cervical cancer from January 2001 and December 2014 at the Samsung Medical Center. Prognostic factors for overall survival after recurrence were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses.ResultsA total of 67 patients were included in the analysis. After a median follow-up of 24.0 months (range 4–155), the 3-year overall survival rate was 42.7%. 32 patients had isolated para-aortic lymph node recurrence (group 1), 21 patients had para-aortic lymph node recurrence combined with other lymph node recurrence (group 2), and 14 patients developed para-aortic lymph node recurrence with distant organ metastasis (group 3). The 3-year overall survival rates in groups 1, 2, and 3 were 60.8%, 42.1%, and 7.7%, respectively (p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, histologic type of squamous cell carcinoma (p=0.028), non-symptomatic recurrence (p=0.024), isolated para-aortic lymph node recurrence (p=0.008), and disease-free interval (p=0.008) were significant factors for survival. Among the patients with isolated para-aortic lymph node recurrence, survival rates differed significantly according to disease-free interval; the 3-year overall survival in patients with disease-free interval ≥12 months and disease-free interval <12 months was 69.6% and 37.5%, respectively (p<0.001).ConclusionsIn patients with para-aortic lymph node recurrence from cervical cancer, histologic type, presence of symptoms, extent of disease, and disease-free interval were the prognostic factors for survival. Patients with isolated para-aortic lymph node recurrence with disease-free interval ≥12 months had higher survival outcomes at 3 years.

This study was conducted to evaluate prognosis of patients with level I/II axillary lymph node metastases from occult breast cancer (OBC). Materials and Methods: Data of 53 patients with OBC who received axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) positive/negative (+/-) breast-conserving surgery between 2001 and 2013 were retrospectively collected at seven hospitals in Korea. The median number of positive lymph nodes (+LNs) was 2. Seventeen patients (32.1%) had >3 +LNs. A total of 48 patients (90.6%) received radiotherapy. Extents of radiotherapy were as follows: whole-breast (WB; n = 11), regional lymph node (RLN; n = 2), and WB plus RLN (n = 35). Results: The median follow-up time was 85 months. Recurrence was found in four patients: two in the breast, one in RLN, and one in the breast and RLN. The 5-year and 7-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 96.1% and 93.5%, respectively. Molecular subtype and receipt of breast radiotherapy were significantly associated with DFS. Patients with estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (ER-/PR-/HER2-) subtype had significantly lower 7-year DFS than those with non-ER-/PR-/HER2-tumor (76.9% vs. 100.0%; p = 0.03). Whole breast irradiation (WBI) was significantly associated with a higher 7-year DFS rate (94.7% for WBI group vs. 83.3% for non-WBI group; p = 0.01). Other factors including patient's age, number of +LNs, taxane chemotherapy, and RLN irradiation were not associated with DFS. Conclusion:Patients with OBC achieved favorable outcome after ALND and breast-targeting treatment. Molecular subtype and receipt of WBI was significant factors for DFS.