Fox Chase researchers connect multifocal/multicentric breast cancer to a patient's increased risk of local recurrence

Not all women diagnosed with operable breast cancer present with a single tumor, some have multifocal disease appear in the breast—which means multiple tumors all arising from the same primary tumor. Others face a diagnosis of multicentric disease, where multiple tumors have formed independently in the breast. Standard radiation treatment is not tailored to the number of tumors found in the breast, so patients with multifocal or multicentric disease do not receive radiation after mastectomy and if they undergo lumpectomy, they receive the same dose and extent as patients presenting with a single mass. Read more here.