Aim: To determine whether morbidly obese (MO) patients with early-stage breast cancer (BCa) benefit from standard-of-care interventions.
Patients and methods: Between 1992 and 2005, 100 patients underwent breast-conserving surgery and postoperative whole-breast irradiation of 50 Gy for minimally invasive BCa with tumor-free surgical margins. Twenty-seven MO women were compared to 73 non-morbidly obese (NMO) patients.
Results: At 10 years, the cumulative disease-free survival rate for the NMO patients was 91% compared to the non-statistically significant lower rate of 89% in the MO women (p=0.66). Patients who were excessively obese were not at an increased risk for local (p=0.99) or regional disease recurrence (p=0.29).
Conclusion: The results suggest that patients with minimally invasive BCa and excessively large body habitus should not be disqualified from receiving breast-conserving therapy.
Keywords: Morbid obesity; breast cancer; breast-conservation surgery; chemotherapy; radiotherapy.