Quality of Life for Patients with Breast Cancer

Although chest wall recurrence of breast cancer is uncommon, it represents a difficult clinical scenario. The role of full thickness chest wall resection (FTCWR) for breast cancer recurrence in the chest wall is controversial and is complicated by the fact that no prospective evidence exists evaluating the utility of FTCWR in prolonging survival or improving health related quality of life (HRQOL) and thus, there is a lack of evidence to guide treatment decisions. Gathering HRQOL, local-regional recurrence (LRR) and survival data in a prospective fashion is thus critical in this population. Therefore, we designed a prospective trial to evaluate the outcomes for FTCWR in terms of LRC and HRQOL, and short-term morbidity and mortality, with secondary focus on potential long-term overall survival benefit.