Post-mastectomy radiotherapy for breast cancer patients with t1-t2 and 1-3 positive lymph nodes: a meta-analysis.

The role of post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in patients with T1-2 and 1-3 positive lymph nodes remains controversial. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible benefits of PMRT for this subgroup.Three electronic databases were systematically quarried (Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and EMBASE) for published studies evaluating the effects of PMRT on breast cancer patients with T1-T2 tumors with 1-3 positive lymph nodes. Of the 334 studies identified, information was available for 3432 patients from 10 clinical studies. Pooled relative risk estimates (RR) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using the inverse variance weighted approach, publication bias and chi-square test were also calculated.From the 10 studies, the pooled RR (RRs) for locoregional recurrence (LRR) with PMRT was 0.348 (95% CI = 0.254 to 0.477), suggesting a significant benefit for PMRT to decrease the risk of LRR in patients with T1-T2 tumors and 1-3 positive nodes (p