Key clinical point: Both hypofractionated (HF) and conventional fractionated (CF) radiotherapy were comparably effective in patients who had undergone surgery for breast cancer (BC); however, the HF vs CF regimen was more effective in reducing skin toxicity and relieving fatigue.
Major finding: CF vs HF radiotherapy demonstrated no significant improvement in terms of local recurrence (odds ratio [OR] 0.91; P = .30) or overall survival (OR 1.08; P = .28) outcomes. Although safety outcomes like breast pain, breast atrophy, lymphedema, pneumonia, pulmonary fibrosis, telangiectasia, and cardiotoxicity were comparable in both groups, HF vs CF regimen led to lower skin toxicity (OR 0.43; P < .01) and improved patient fatigue outcomes (OR 0.73; P < .01).
Study details: This meta-analysis of 35 studies included 18,246 patients diagnosed with BC who underwent surgery and were treated with HF or CF radiotherapy .
Disclosures: This study was supported by the Key Research and Development Projects of Shaanxi Province, China, and other sources. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Lu Y, Hui B, Yang D, et al. Efficacy and safety analysis of hypofractionated and conventional fractionated radiotherapy in postoperative breast cancer patients. BMC Cancer. 2024;24:181. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-11918-2 Source