Local recurrence for phyllodes tumours of the breast: Systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of the present systematic review was the determination of methodologies preferable for treating phyllodes tumors (PTs) of the breast and whether the malignancy of the tumor is of significance to the selected treatment. In addition, to investigate if local recurrence (LR) within patients is different based on the therapeutic approach followed by the physician. All studies were gathered by utilization of the biggest online medical databases in the world including PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Due to the specificity of the study, the resultant set of studies included in the present analysis was not large. All included studies had to refer to patients diagnosed with PTs of the breast, include the malignancy of the tumor and the preferred treatment. Moreover, they included a reference to LR post-treatment, even if there wasn't any. The age range of patients was 20–55 years old and follow-ups should have been performed. As a result, from the initial 484 studies gathered and after proper and thorough evaluation, only 10 were of significance. The studies appeared heterogeneous in terms of population, topology, treatment methodology, additional therapeutic approaches, LR rate, age and follow-up periods. Overall, excisions were used for non-malignant tumors while mastectomy was preferable for tumors with malignancy. Radiotherapy was used both as an additional treatment for tumors and LR. Also, it was revealed that LR varied based on the malignancy and treatment methodology.