Yang Z, Li K, Qiu P, et al. - In older women staged T1N0M0 with low-risk invasive breast cancer, radiotherapy can be skipped after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) by accounting detailed tumor size as a reference for avoiding radiotherapy as concluded in few studies. Researchers herein sought for the optimal cutoff tumor size.

• From the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, researchers included a total of 52,049 women and 3,846 deaths in the cohort with a median follow-up of 34 months.

• Tumor size of 14 mm in diameter was identified to be the cutoff tumor size of omitting radiotherapy for patients aged 65 or older with T1N0M0 stage, ER+ and HER2-breast carcinoma after BCS.

• Improved OS and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) were recorded in correlation with small tumors (≤ 14 mm) and radiotherapy.

• Patients with large tumors (>14 mm) significantly benefited from radiotherapy.

• Omission of radiotherapy can be considered in elders with small low-risk breast tumor after BCS.