A Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Study has shown a low local recurrence rate in women with localized breast cancer treated with lumpectomy followed by low- or high-dose brachytherapy. The details of this study appeared in an early on-line publication in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics on March 4, 2008.¹

Patients with small, localized breast cancers are usually treated with lumpectomy and radiation therapy to the whole breast. Recently, there have been efforts to administer more-precise radiation therapy through the use of radioactive implants (brachytherapy). In general, there is less radiation delivered to skin, surrounding tissue, and lung with brachytherapy than with external beam radiation therapy. The most common implant is Iridium-192. The potential advantages of this approach are more selective delivery of radiation and decreased visits needed to accomplish therapy. Brachytherapy can be delivered over several days versus the several weeks required for external beam radiation therapy.

RTOG 95-17 was a Phase II study involving 99 women with Stage I-II breast cancer with a primary lesion less than 3 centimeters in size. Patients were treated to 45 Gy (n=66) or 34 Gy (n=33) of radiation over five days. The median follow-up of this study was over six years. Patients in the high-dose group had a 3% in breast failure rate, a 5% regional failure rate, and a 2% contralateral breast failure rate. Patients in the low-dose group had similar results.

Comments: As in other studies, these results appear to be comparable to external beam radiation therapy with possibly fewer side effects.

Related News:

Further Evidence that Brachytherapy Can Replace External Beam Radiation for Localized Breast Cancer (8/27/2003)

Increasing Use of Brachytherapy Alone As Adjuvant Radiation Therapy for Localized Breast Cancer (10/16/2002)

Axxent™ Electronic Brachytherapy Cleared for Treatment of Breast Cancer (01/19/2006)

Reference:

¹ A phase II trial of brachytherapy alone after lumpectomy for select breast cancer: Tumor control and survival outcomes of Rtog 95-17. International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics [early online publication] March 4, 2008.