Reirradiation + hyperthermia for recurrent breast cancer en cuirasse

Background and purpose Patients with irresectable locoregional recurrent breast cancer en cuirasse (BCEC) do not have effective curative treatment options. Hyperthermia, the elevation of tumor temperature to 40–45 °C, is a well-established radio- and chemotherapy sensitizer. A total of 196 patients were treated with reirradiation and hyperthermia (reRT+HT) at two Dutch institutes from 1982–2005. The palliative effect was evaluated in terms of clinical outcome and toxicity.