How would you treat recurrent unresectable skin nodules on the chest wall after mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection?

I would consider systemic treatment first based on phenotype to see if that could make it resectable.

I would favor that, as surgery followed by RT would offer a better outcome.

As for as RT field is concerned, I would treat chest wall and regional nodal region routinely for the recurrent disease in c...

At Duke we have traditionally treated patients with gross disease after breast surgery with concurrent radiation and capecitabine. I personally have had several patients with recurrent unresectable chest wall nodules after mastectomy that have had a complete response and retain local control 5-7 yea...

Prognosis of local recurrence on the chest wall following mastectomy is dependent on several factors including time to recurrence, nodal status at diagnosis, ER status, prior systemic therapy received, prior RT and importantly surgical resectability at time of local recurrence. 10 year FFS ranges fr...

If surgery were clearly not possible, then it depends whether the intent is curative or palliative.

In the setting described, it sounds potentially curative. If that is the case, then would there be a role for some combination of external beam radiation with HDR mold brachytherapy? Chemotherapy coul...

My inclination is to treat the chest wall only, primarily because this is most likely systemic (even if you can't find it) and incurable. This makes treatment a little easier on the patient and you can always treat the nodes later, if necessary.