Between June 1976 and October 1981 ten patients with extended inflammatory recurrent mammary carcinoma of the chest wall and distant metastases underwent sequential chemo- and radiotherapy at the University Clinic for Radiotherapy and Radiobiology in Vienna. Five of these patients had received local treatment of recurrent mammary carcinoma of the chest wall before. Eight of ten patients responded to therapy, 5 showed complete remission. The mean remission period of 8.8 months for the chest wall area is significantly longer than that of distant metastases with 6.1 months (p less than 0.05). Local megavolt therapy has no influence on the mean survival time, but improves the quality of life considerably. All patients under treatment achieved at least 80% on the Karnofsky score. After a comprehensive study of recent international literature the authors have come to the conclusion that local and regional recurrence after initial treatment obviously prove an advanced stage. For this very reason the prevention of local regional recurrence by means of postoperative megavolt therapy is of great significance.