ABSTRACT
A total of 1009 pathologic node-negative breast cancer patients with tumors measuring 1 cm or less were randomized to radiotherapy, tamoxifen or both combined. With a median follow-up time of 73 months, the annual rate of ipsilateral breast recurrence was 1.17% per year for radiotherapy, 2.44% per year for tamoxifen, and 0.36% for the combination. (Assuming a constant hazard over the first 8 years, this would result in 8-year rates of 9%, 20% and 3% for the arms, respectively.)
Summary
Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2000; 19:70a
Tamoxifen is not as effective as radiotherapy in preventing local recurrence in the breast and, as noted above, the combination is considerably more effective than the use of radiotherapy alone.
