No abstract

Breast conservation treatment followed, if useful, by adjuvant therapy is the treatment of choice in early breast cancer. Late cosmetic outcome and toxicity are important in comparing conservative treatment to mastectomy. We reviewed the records of 225 patients treated from 1981 to 1988 with a median follow-up of 74 months (range 12–156 months). Cosmetic results, either reported by the physician (82.4%) or by the patients themselves (81.5 %), were generally excellent or good, and tended to decline with time (69 and 75.5%, respectively). Toxicity was mild with arm edema (14.6%) being the most frequent symptom. No severe toxicities were observed. We conclude that overall cosmesis has been acceptable in this series and that a low rate of long-term toxicity can be expected with this conservative approach.

IORT in breast carcinoma is still an experimental treatment option for select patients with breast cancer and its application should be restricted to prospective trials. Although preliminary data on local control are encouraging, a longer follow-up is needed to confirm the efficacy of IORT in breast cancer and to exclude that severe late complications compromise the cosmetic results or modify the radiologic breast appearance during follow-up increasing the need for additional investigations.

No abstract

In our series adjuvant radiation therapy resulted in cure rates corresponding to those reported in the literature. The 30-year actuarial survival of 99% was extremely good and the toxicity of the treatment was mild. Post-orchidectomy radiation to the para-aortic and ipsilateral pelvic nodes is a safe and effective method of preventing recurrences and is currently to be considered the treatment of choice in stage I testicular seminoma.