Abstract Aims The Canadian Partnership for Quality Radiotherapy quality assurance guidelines recommend that radiation oncologist peer review of curative radiotherapy plans takes place ideally before ...the first fraction of treatment is delivered. This study documented and evaluated the outcomes of weekly, disease site-specific, radiotherapy peer review, quality assurance rounds at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, Canada with a view to making recommendations about the optimal timing and documentation of peer review during the radiotherapy planning processes. Materials and Methods Outcomes of each case reviewed at (i) breast, (ii) head and neck (including thyroid and cutaneous cases) and (iii) lung team quality assurance rounds from 6 January to 5 May 2015 were recorded prospectively. Each radiotherapy plan was assigned an outcome: A for plans with no suggested changes; B for satisfactory, but where issues were raised to consider for future patients; or C when a change was recommended before the first or next fraction. The B outcomes were further subdivided into B1 for a case-specific concern and B2 for a policy gap. Plans were assessed after contour definition and before the plan was formulated (post-contouring reviews) and/or assessed when the plan was complete (post-planning reviews). Results 209 radiotherapy plans prescribed by 20 radiation oncologists were peer reviewed at 43 quality assurance meetings. 93% were curative-intent and 7% were palliative. 83% of plans were reviewed before delivery of the first treatment fraction. There were a total of 257 case reviews: 60 at the post-contouring stage, 197 at the post-planning stage, including 46 patients reviewed at both time points. Overall rates of A, B1, B2 and C outcomes were 78%, 9%, 4% and 9%, respectively. The most common reason for a B or C outcome was related to target volume definition. Only 56% of C outcomes at the post-planning stage would have been detected at the post-contouring stage. Results varied between tumour site groups. Conclusions 9% of radiotherapy plans reviewed had changes suggested before delivery to the patient. Review at the post-planning stage after plan completion was necessary to detect all suggested changes, but for head and neck cases, all C outcomes could have been detected at the post-contouring stage. More widespread implementation of radiotherapy peer review in the UK is recommended.
To determine if mastectomy (Mx) use, chemotherapy (CT) intensity, or treatment sequence of CT, radiation therapy (RT), and Mx have improved outcome for inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).
A ...retrospective analysis of 485 patients with IBC diagnosed in British Columbia between 1980 and 2000 analyzed locoregional relapse-free survival (LRFS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) by treatment intent and treatment received. Curative intent was defined as delivery of more than four cycles of anthracycline-based CT plus locoregional RT in patients without distant metastases.
Median follow-up among survivors was 6.5 years. Median BCSS was 1.0 and 3.2 years for patients with distant metastases at diagnosis or those who were curatively treated, respectively. Among patients treated curatively (n = 308), there were no significant differences in LRFS or BCSS with timing of Mx before or after CT/RT, time between diagnosis and RT, or the sequence of RT and CT. Patients receiving more intensive CT had improved 10-year BCSS compared with standard CT (43.7% v 26.3%; P = .04). Ten-year LRFS for patients having Mx after CT, Mx before CT, and without Mx was 62.8%, 58.6%, and 34.4%, respectively (P = .0001); the corresponding 10-year BCSS was 36.9%, 19.9%, and 22.5%, respectively (P = .005). On multivariate analysis, Mx was associated with improved LRFS (P = .04). Independent prognostic factors for BCSS were menopausal status (P = .02), estrogen receptor status (P = .02), and CT type (P = .05).
This retrospective analysis suggested that mastectomy, in conjunction with CT and RT, seemed to enhance locoregional control, whereas modern CT regimens seemed to improve BCSS.
Background: The British Columbia randomized radiation trial was designed to determine the survival impact of locoregional radiation therapy in premenopausal patients with lymph node–positive breast ...cancer treated by modified radical mastectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy. Three hundred eighteen patients were assigned to receive no further therapy or radiation therapy (37.5 Gy in 16 fractions). Previous analysis at the 15-year follow-up showed that radiation therapy was associated with a statistically significant improvement in breast cancer survival but that improvement in overall survival was of only borderline statistical significance. We report the analysis of data from the 20-year follow-up. Methods: Survival was analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method. Relative risk estimates were calculated by the Wald test from the proportional hazards regression model. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: At the 20 year follow up (median follow up for live patients: 249 months) chemotherapy and radiation therapy, compared with chemotherapy alone, were associated with a statistically significant improvement in all end points analyzed, including survival free of isolated locoregional recurrences (74% versus 90%, respectively; relative risk RR = 0.36, 95% confidence interval CI = 0.18 to 0.71; P = .002), systemic relapse–free survival (31% versus 48%; RR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.49 to 0.88; P = .004), breast cancer-free survival (48% versus 30%; RR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.47 to 0.83; P = .001), event-free survival (35% versus 25%; RR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.54 to 0.92; P = .009), breast cancer-specific survival (53% versus 38%; RR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.49 to 0.90; P = .008), and, in contrast to the 15-year follow-up results, overall survival (47% versus 37%; RR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.55 to 0.98; P = .03). Long-term toxicities, including cardiac deaths (1.8% versus 0.6%), were minimal for both arms. Conclusion: For patients with high-risk breast cancer treated with modified radical mastectomy, treatment with radiation therapy (schedule of 16 fractions) and adjuvant chemotherapy leads to better survival outcomes than chemotherapy alone, and it is well tolerated, with acceptable long-term toxicity.
A comprehensive assessment of cannabis use by patients with cancer has not previously been reported. In this study, we aimed to characterize patient perspectives about cannabis and its use.
An ...anonymous survey about cannabis use was offered to patients 18 years of age and older attending 2 comprehensive and 2 community cancer centres, comprising an entire provincial health care jurisdiction in Canada (ethics id: hreba-17011).
Of 3138 surveys distributed, 2040 surveys were returned (65%), with 1987 being sufficiently complete for analysis (response rate: 63%). Of the respondents, 812 (41%) were less than 60 years of age; 45% identified as male, and 55% as female; and 44% had completed college or higher education.Of respondents overall, 43% reported any lifetime cannabis use. That finding was independent of age, sex, education level, and cancer histology. Cannabis was acquired through friends (80%), regulated medical dispensaries (10%), and other means (6%). Of patients with any use, 81% had used dried leaves.Of the 356 patients who reported cannabis use within the 6 months preceding the survey (18% of respondents with sufficiently complete surveys), 36% were new users. Their reasons for use included cancer-related pain (46%), nausea (34%), other cancer symptoms (31%), and non-cancer-related reasons (56%).
The survey demonstrated that prior cannabis use was widespread among patients with cancer (43%). One in eight respondents identified at least 1 cancer-related symptom for which they were using cannabis.
Adjuvant! (www.adjuvantonline.com) is a web-based tool that predicts 10-year breast cancer outcomes with and without adjuvant systemic therapy, but it has not been independently validated.
Using the ...British Columbia Breast Cancer Outcomes Unit (BCOU) database, demographic, pathologic, staging, and treatment data on 4,083 women diagnosed between 1989 and 1993 in British Columbia with T1-2, N0-1, M0 breast cancer were abstracted and entered into Adjuvant! to calculate predicted 10-year overall survival (OS), breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS), and event-free survival (EFS) for each patient. Individual BCOU observed outcomes at 10 years were independently determined. Predicted and observed outcomes were compared.
Across all 4,083 patients, 10-year predicted and observed outcomes were within 1% for OS, BCSS, and EFS (all P > .05). Predicted and observed outcomes were within 2% for most demographic, pathologic, and treatment-defined subgroups. Adjuvant! overestimated OS, BCSS, and EFS in women younger than age 35 years (predicted-observed = 8.6%, 9.6%, and 13.6%, respectively; all P < .001) or with lymphatic or vascular invasion (LVI; predicted-observed = 3.6%, 3.8%, and 4.2%, respectively; all P < .05); these two prognostic factors were not automatically incorporated within the Adjuvant! algorithm. After adjusting for the distribution of LVI, using the prognostic factor impact calculator in Adjuvant!, 10-year predicted and observed outcomes were no longer significantly different.
Adjuvant! performed reliably. Patients younger than age 35 or with known additional adverse prognostic factors such as LVI require adjustment of risks to derive reliable predictions of prognosis without adjuvant systemic therapy and the absolute benefits of adjuvant systemic therapy.
Background: Letrozole after 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen results in a significant reduction in risk of recurrence from estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer. An individualized estimate of ...the risk of relapse and death after 5 years of tamoxifen could improve decisions regarding extended hormonal therapy.
Methods: The British Columbia Breast Cancer Outcomes database was used to identify women aged 45 years or older at the time of diagnosis with early-stage (I–IIIA) breast cancer who received tamoxifen and were disease free 5 years after diagnosis. Ten-year breast cancer event rates and mortality were calculated as well as annualized hazard rates of recurrence.
Results: A total of 1086 women were identified with a median age of 64 years and follow-up of 10.5 years. The relative risk (RR) of death was 3.1 (P = 0.003) and for recurrence was 1.7 (P = 0.037) for N1 (one to three positive nodes) versus N0 (zero nodes positive) disease. N2 (four to nine nodes positive) had a RR of 5.8 (P < 0.001) for death and 3.0 (P = 0.002) for recurrence. Low tumor grade and high ER level subgroups had a more favorable prognosis. Annual breast cancer risk between years 6 and 10 was, respectively, 2.2%, 3.5% and 7.6% for N0, N1 and N2 disease and 2.6% and 4.5% for T1 and T2 breast cancer.
Conclusion: T and N stages predicted late relapse and death from breast cancer in a population-based cohort of postmenopausal women. Risk estimates reported herein may be used to optimize decision making regarding adjuvant therapy after 5 years of tamoxifen.
Radiotherapy after mastectomy to treat early breast cancer has been known since the 1940s to reduce rates of local relapse. However, the routine use of postoperative radiotherapy began to decline in ...the 1980s because it failed to improve overall survival. We prospectively tested the efficacy of combining radiotherapy with chemotherapy.
From 1978 through 1986, 318 premenopausal women with node-positive breast cancer were randomly assigned, after modified radical mastectomy, to receive chemotherapy plus radiotherapy or chemotherapy alone. Radiotherapy was given to the chest wall and locoregional lymph nodes between the fourth and fifth cycles of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil.
After 15 years of follow-up, the women assigned to chemotherapy plus radiotherapy had a 33 percent reduction in the rate of recurrence (relative risk, 0.67; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.50 to 0.90) and a 29 percent reduction in mortality from breast cancer (relative risk, 0.71; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.51 to 0.99), as compared with the women treated with chemotherapy alone.
Radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy after modified radical mastectomy decreases rates of locoregional and systemic relapse and reduces mortality from breast cancer.
To provide information and recommendations for women and their physicians when making decisions about the management of lymphedema related to breast cancer.
Compression garments, pneumatic ...compression pumps, massage and physical therapies, other physical therapy modalities, pharmaceutical treatments.
Symptom control, quality of life, cosmetic results.
Systematic review of English-language literature retrieved primarily from MEDLINE (1966 to April 2000) and CANCERLIT (1985 to April 2000). Nonsystematic review of breast cancer literature published to October 2000.
Pre- and postoperative measurements of both arms are useful in the assessment and diagnosis of lymphedema. Circumferential measurements should be taken at 4 points: the metacarpal-phalangeal joints, the wrists, 10 cm distal to the lateral epicondyles and 15 cm proximal to the lateral epicondyles. Clinicians should elicit symptoms of heaviness, tightness or swelling in the affected arm. A difference of more than 2.0 cm at any of the 4 measurement points may warrant treatment of the lymphedema, provided that tumour involvement of the axilla or brachial plexus, infection and axillary vein thrombosis have been ruled out. Practitioners may want to encourage long-term and consistent use of compression garments by women with lymphedema. One randomized trial has demonstrated a trend in favour of pneumatic compression pumps compared with no treatment. Further randomized trials are required to determine whether pneumatic compression provides additional benefit over compression garments alone. Complex physical therapy, also called complex decongestive physiotherapy, requires further evaluation in randomized trials. In one randomized trial no difference in outcomes was detected between compression garments plus manual lymph drainage versus compression garments alone. Clinical experience supports encouraging patients to consider some practical advice regarding skin care, exercise and body weight. A patient version of these guidelines appears in Appendix 2.
An initial draft of this document was developed by a task force sponsored by the BC Cancer Agency. It was updated and revised substantially by a writing committee and then submitted for further review, revision and approval by the Steering Committee for Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Care and Treatment of Breast Cancer.
The steering committee was convened by Health Canada. COMPLETION DATE: October 2000.
We determined the effect of breast irradiation plus tamoxifen on disease-free survival and local relapse in women 50 years of age or older who had T1 or T2 node-negative breast cancer.
Between ...December 1992 and June 2000, 769 women with early breast cancer (tumor diameter, 5 cm or less) were randomly assigned to receive breast irradiation plus tamoxifen (386 women) or tamoxifen alone (383 women). The median follow-up was 5.6 years.
The rate of local relapse at five years was 7.7 percent in the tamoxifen group and 0.6 percent in the group given tamoxifen plus irradiation (hazard ratio, 8.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 3.3 to 21.2; P<0.001), with corresponding five-year disease-free survival rates of 84 percent and 91 percent (P=0.004). A planned subgroup analysis of 611 women with T1, receptor-positive tumors indicated a benefit from radiotherapy (five-year rates of local relapse, 0.4 percent with tamoxifen plus radiotherapy and 5.9 percent with tamoxifen alone; P<0.001). Overall, there was a significant difference in the rate of axillary relapse at five years (2.5 percent in the tamoxifen group and 0.5 percent in the group given tamoxifen plus irradiation, P=0.049), but no significant difference in the rates of distant relapse or overall survival.
As compared with tamoxifen alone, radiotherapy plus tamoxifen significantly reduces the risk of breast and axillary recurrence after lumpectomy in women with small, node-negative, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers.
Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) is an important part of breast cancer management but the dose and fractionation schedules used are variable. A total of 50 Gy in 25 daily fractions delivered over 5 weeks ...is often considered the "standard" adjuvant RT prescription. Hypofractionated regimes such as 42.5 Gy in 16 daily fractions or 40 Gy in 15 daily fractions following breast-conserving surgery have proven to be equally effective and achieve similar or better cosmetic and normal tissue outcomes for both invasive and in situ diseases and when treating the regional nodes. Hypofractionation is more convenient for patients and less costly. However, certain patients at higher risk of RT late effects may benefit from a less intense, even more extended fractionation schedule. This review describes the indications for whole breast hypofractionated adjuvant RT for patients with breast cancer following breast-conserving surgery and proposes that hypofractionation should be the new "standard" for adjuvant breast cancer RT.
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