Adjuvant radiotherapy of breast cancer - is partial breast irradiation sufficient?

Abstract

Summary Partial breast irradiation is a relatively novel approach in adjuvant breast cancer radiotherapy. It involves administration of irradiation to a part of the breast, as opposed to the standard practice of irradiation of the whole breast. This method allows delivery of higher radiation dose to smaller volumes, and in shorter period of time. It can be delivered via standard linear accelerators, brachytherapy, or via mobile accelerator units which allow the delivery of a single dose of radiation to the tumor bed intraoperatively. However, the use of partial breast irradiation in standard clinical practice is still controver-sial. The level of evidence that supports its equality to the whole breast irradiation remains limited. While the results of some prospective randomized trials indicate its applicability in certain, highly selected patients, longer follow-up of patients is necessary to draw de fi nitive conclusions.