The Influence of Histologic Grade on Outcomes of Elderly Women With Early Stage Breast Cancer Treated With Breast Conserving Surgery With or Without Radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Two large randomized trials, CALGB 9343 and PRIME II, support omission of radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery (BCS) in elderly women with favorable-risk early stage breast cancer intending to take endocrine therapy. However, patients with grade 3 histology were underrepresented on these trials. We hypothesized that high-grade disease may be unsuitable for treatment de-escalation and report the oncologic outcomes for elderly women with favorable early stage breast cancer treated with BCS with or without radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was queried for women between 70 and 79 years of age with invasive ductal carcinoma diagnosed between 1998 and 2007. This cohort was narrowed to women with T1mic-T1c, N0, estrogen receptor-positive, invasive ductal carcinoma treated with BCS with or without external beam radiation (EBRT). The primary endpoints were 5- and 10-year cause-specific survival (CSS). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Propensity-score matching of T-stage, year of diagnosis, and age was utilized to reduce selection bias while comparing treatment arms within the grade 3 subgroup. RESULTS: A total of 12,036 women met inclusion criteria, and the median follow-up was 9.4 years. EBRT was omitted in 22% of patients, including 21% with grade 3 disease. Patients in the EBRT cohort were slightly younger (median, 74 vs. 75 years; P < .01) and had fewer T1a tumors (11% vs. 13%; P = .02). Histologic grades 1, 2, and 3 comprised 36%, 50%, and 14% of the cohort, respectively, and there were no differences in EBRT utilization by grade. Utilization of EBRT decreased following the publication of the CALGB trial in 2004 decreasing from 82% to 85% in 1998 to 2000 to 73% to 75% in 2005 to 2007 (P < .01). Unadjusted outcomes showed that in grade 1 disease, there were no differences in CSS with or without EBRT at 5 (99%) and 10 years (95%-96%). EBRT was associated with an improvement in CSS in grade 2 histology at 5 years (97% vs. 98%) and 10 years (92% vs. 95%) (P = .004). The benefit was more pronounced in grade 3 disease with CSS increasing from 93% to 96% at 5 years and from 87% to 92% at 10 years (P = .02) with EBRT. In the grade 3 subgroup, propensity-score matching confirmed EBRT was associated with superior CSS compared with surgery alone (hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.34-0.98; P = .043). CONCLUSION: In this database analysis, omission of radiotherapy after BCS in elderly women with favorable-risk, early stage, grade 3 breast cancer was associated with inferior CSS. Further prospective data in this patient population are needed to confirm our findings and conclusions.

Fractionated Radiotherapy Is Associated with Lower Rates of Treatment-Related Edema than Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Defined Meningiomas.

OBJECTIVE: Both stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and fractionated radiation therapy (FRT) techniques are used for treatment of intracranial meningiomas with excellent local control (LC) rates. Although SRS techniques are convenient, toxicity including treatment-related edema can significantly impact patient quality of life. The long-term clinical outcomes of patients with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-defined meningiomas treated with radiation therapy (RT) alone are reported. METHODS: The charts of 211 patients with meningiomas diagnosed by contrast-enhanced MRI treated with either SRS or FRT between 1991 and 2012 at a single institution were reviewed. Actuarial rates for LC and development of treatment-related radiographic edema (TRE) were determined by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: There were 211 patients who received radiation therapy for 223 lesions. Median follow-up was 5.7 years. Eleven patients experienced a local failure; of these, 2 were ultimately found to have pathologically proven metastatic carcinoma. Two- and 5-year LC was 97.8% and 94.6%, respectively, with no significant difference based on modality of therapy. Actuarial rate for development of TRE at 1 and 2 years was 30.1% and 34.6% for the SRS group and 1.6% and 2.5% for the FRT group, respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: RT alone using a limited margin is an effective treatment option for MRI-defined meningiomas and should be considered even without biopsy if surgery will present significant morbidity. Although LC with SRS versus FRT was comparable, FRT was associated with a significantly decreased risk of TRE.

Is Breast Conserving Therapy a Safe Modality for Early-Stage Male Breast Cancer?

INTRODUCTION: Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease and lacks data-based treatment guidelines. Most men are currently treated with modified radical mastectomy (MRM) or simple mastectomy (SM). We compared the oncologic treatment outcomes of early-stage MBC to determine whether breast conservation therapy (BCT) is appropriate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database for MBC cases. That cohort was narrowed to cases of stage I-II, T1-T2N0 MBC with surgical and radiation therapy (RT) data available. The patients had undergone MRM, SM, or breast conservation surgery (BCS) with or without postoperative RT. We calculated the actuarial 5-year cause-specific survival (CSS). RESULTS: We identified 6263 MBC cases and included 1777 men with stage I or II, T1-T2, node-negative disease, who had the required treatment information available. MRM without RT was the most common treatment (43%). Only 17% underwent BCS. Of the BCS patients, 46% received adjuvant RT to complete the traditional BCT. No deaths were recorded in the BCT group, regardless of stage, or in the 3 stage I surgical groups if the men had received RT. The actuarial 5-year CSS was 100% in each BCT group. MRM alone resulted in an actuarial 5-year CSS of 97.3% for stage 1% and 91.2% for stage 2. CONCLUSION: The results from our study suggest that BCT for early-stage MBC yields comparable survival compared with more invasive treatment modalities (ie, MRM or SM alone). This could shift the treatment paradigm to less-invasive interventions and might have the added benefit of increased functional and psychological outcomes. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm our conclusions.