Comparison of pre- and post-operative irradiation value in locally advances cases of breast carcinoma

Controlled clinical investigations in 164 breast carcinoma patients in the T3N0 and T3N1 stage (in acc. with UICC 1959) were carried out. Randomly selected 74 patients were irradiated before complete breast amputation using the Halsted method and 90 patients were irradiated after the operation. Five year survivals and the type and time of failure onset in both comparative groups did not differ statistically. A statistically significant delay in post-operative wound healing in the pre-operatively irradiated group was reported. Thus, post-operative irradiation in locally advanced breast carcinoma patients qualified for combined treatment is a less straining method of treatment. 23 refs., 1 fig., 5 tabs. (author)