Travel Distance to Radiation Therapy and Receipt of Radiotherapy Following Breast-Conserving Surgery

Abstract
Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) followed by radiation therapy is an efficacious alternative treatment to mastectomy for women with early-stage breast cancer (1,2). However, 15%-30% of the women treated with BCS for early-stage disease fail to undergo postoperative breast irradiation, despite the known increased risk of ipsilateral recurrence associated with the omission of radiotherapy (3-8). Older age has been identified as a major determinant of not receiving radiotherapy after BCS (4,6,7,9). Other factors that could account for failure to receive radiation therapy, particularly among younger women, remain to be identified.