Lumpectomy and Radiation Therapy: A Question Answered-Reply

In Reply.—What appeared to be a discrepancy between the data we published in our article and that of Dr Calle et al from the Institut Curie is not a discrepancy in reality. We did state that local recurrence appears to be associated with a higher incidence of distant dissemination if the recurrence occurs within five years after treatment. This is not in contradiction to what was published by Dr Calle et al. These authors state in their article that "there was no difference in survival observed between patients with recurrence in the breast and/or axilla and those without recurrence." They also state that "local control was significantly decreased in younger patients, survival in the same group was significantly impaired." The majority of patients from the Institut Curie mentioned in our article and who experienced early recurrence (less than five years) were in the younger age group and therefore had