Effects of Radiotherapy and Surgery in Early Breast Cancer — An Overview of the Randomized Trials

BACKGROUND: Randomized trials of radiotherapy and surgery for early breast cancer may have been too small to detect differences in long-term survival and recurrence reliably. We therefore performed a systematic overview (meta-analysis) of the results of such trials. METHODS: Information was sought on each subject from investigators who conducted trials that began before 1985 and that compared local therapies for early breast cancer. Data on …