Cytokine Expression During Radiation for Breast Cancer
To assess the magnitude and frequency of changes in chemo/cytokine expression in women receiving radiation treatment. To asses the impact of race/ethnicity on the magnitude and frequency of changes in chemo/cytokine expression during radiation therapy for breast cancer. And finally to assess the interaction between radiation-induced chemo/cytokine expression changes, and race/ethnicity, with respect to normal tissue reactions to radiation and tumor-associated outcomes.
• Patient must be 18 years of age or older
• Patients must have histologically confirmed (by routine H\&E staining) adenocarcinoma of the breast any T, any N, M0 disease
• Patients must have undergone a segmental mastectomy (SM) with a level I and ll axillary dissection or sentinel lymph node biopsy. Surgical margins at time of local surgery must be negative greater or equal to 2mm for both invasive carcinoma and for non-invasive ductal carcinoma Patients who have post-operative margins which are negative but less than 2mm will be considered eligible if the surgeon states that the margin in question cannot be improved.
• Patients must be registered such that radiation therapy begins within 10 weeks of last surgery
• Patients must have a performance status 0 or 1 by Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) criteria or a 80-100 Karnofsky Performance Scale at time of consult
• Women of all races and ethnic groups are eligible for this trial