Quality-of-life results for accelerated partial breast irradiation with interstitial brachytherapy versus whole-breast irradiation in early breast cancer after breast-conserving surgery (GEC-ESTRO): 5-year results of a randomised, phase 3 trial

Post-mastectomy Radiotherapy in T1-2 Breast Cancer Patients With One to Three Lymph Node Metastases: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

“…Radiotherapy can bring not only survival benefits but also side effects-lung injury, cardiac, and skin side effects, et al, which decreased the quality of life of patients (30,31). In the T1-2N1M0 breast cancer population, the benefit of radiotherapy may be less than the side effects in some patients.…”

Implementation of Stereotactic Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Using Cyber-Knife – Technical Considerations and Early Experiences of a Phase II Clinical Study

“…According to our early experience, no patients have recurrence or fair/poor cosmesis. APBI with appropriate patient selection and quality control became a widely accepted treatment option for the treatment of early-stage BC in highly qualified radiotherapy centres [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In the GEC-ESTRO Breast Cancer Working Group, multicentric randomised study iBT still prove the Biological equivalent dose (BED) and equivalent dose in 2 Gy per fraction (EQD2) for tumour control and for normal tissue toxicity at each dose level efficacy, feasibility, and quality of life after a 5-year follow-up.…”

“…To minimalize the treatment schedule from 3 to 7 weeks to 1 week or less is another advantage of APBI. These pathological findings and the clinical eagerness to abbreviate the course of breast radiotherapy and decrease the toxicity of normal tissues led to the investigation of efficacy and safety of APBI in prospective clinical trials [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In these early studies, the inappropriate patient selection criteria, quality control, and target definition led to very high (25-37%) local relapse rates after 6-8 years [8,9].…”

“…In these early studies, the inappropriate patient selection criteria, quality control, and target definition led to very high (25-37%) local relapse rates after 6-8 years [8,9]. In later studies, more favourable experiences accumulated using APBI with interstitial brachytherapy (iBT), three-dimensional conformal external beam radiotherapy (3D-CRT), and image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IG-IMRT) in correctly selected early-stage BC patients [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Stereotactic treatment approaches are emerging and are widely accepted in early stage lung cancer, prostate cancer, or bone and brain metastasis patients [26][27][28][29].…”

Brachytherapy: An overview for clinicians

“…In contrast to APBI data based on external radiotherapy techniques, one randomized noninferiority trial compared brachytherapy‐based APBI versus whole‐breast irradiation for patients with early stage, low‐risk breast cancer after BCS and showed the noninferiority of adjuvant brachytherapy with respect to 5‐year local control, disease‐free survival, and OS . Late toxicity profiles and cosmetic results were similar, with significantly fewer grade 2 and 3 late skin side effects after APBI with interstitial brachytherapy, and QOL was not worse with APBI . That study supports the routine use of interstitial, multicatheter, brachytherapy‐based APBI in the treatment of patients with low‐risk breast cancer according to study criteria who undergo BCS with free resection margins and without lymphovascular involvement.…”