Concurrent chemo-radiation in the conservative management of breast cancer: In regard to Haffty et al. (Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2006;65:1306–1312)

Abstract

In regard to article by Haffty et al. (1), the authors retrospectively analyzed the novel concept of concurrent chemoradiotherapy for early breast cancer, with the primary focus of the study on the ipsilateral breast tumor relapse rates. However, our two major concerns are that the authors failed to consider important tumor- and treatment-related prognostic factors affecting local control (2). First, evidence has significantly prognosticated nuclear grade, an extensive intraductal component, and menopausal status in early breast cancer patients treated with breast-conserving therapy, which were omitted in the present study when detailing the patient population characteristics (3, 4).