Radiat Oncol
-
Meta Analysis
Adjuvant radiotherapy of regional lymph nodes in breast cancer - a meta-analysis of randomized trials.
Radiotherapy (RT) improves overall survival (OS) of breast cancer patients after breast conserving surgery and after mastectomy in patients with involved lymph nodes (LN). The contribution of RT to the regional LN to this survival benefit was poorly understood. Recently, the results of three large randomized trials addressing this question have become available. ⋯ Additional regional radiotherapy to the internal mammary and medial supraclavicular lymph nodes statistically significantly improves DFS, DMFS, and overall survival in stage I-III breast cancer.