Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of low-dose radiotherapy (LDR) for postoperative local chest wall recurrence of breast cancer. METHODS: The records of 52 patients with postoperative local chest wall recurrent breast cancer treated at our cancer center from January 2019 to December 2022. The t-test was used to compare the means of the LDR group and non LDR group. Categorical data were compared using the chi-square test. The Kaplan-Meier method were used to determine the factors associated the survival. RESULTS: Compared to patients who did not undergo LDR, patients in the LDR group showed a higher incidence of grade I side effects in their skin and soft tissue systems (p = 0.002), a significant reduction in grade II side effects (p < 0.05), and no grade III side effects. Compared with the non LDR group, the complete response rates were 42.3% vs. 38.5%, p = 0.777, the partial response rates were 53.8% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.781, and the objective relief rates were 96.2% vs. 88.5%, p = 0.833, respectively. The 3-year overall survival rate, local recurrence free survival rate, distant metastasis-free survival rate and disease-specific survival rate comparison between LDR group and non LDR group was 54.8% vs. 55.8%, p = 0.845 and 54.2% vs. 52.9%, p = 0.751, 67.9% vs. 51.9%, p = 0.097 and 39.2% vs. 49.6%, p = 0.993, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared with traditional radiotherapy, LDR pre-irradiation has better tolerance and efficacy in patients with local chest wall recurrence of breast cancer after operation.