Long term outcomes of accelerated partial breast irradiation with TomoTherapy in invasive breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery

This study aimed to investigate the outcomes of accelerated partial breast irradiation (ABPI) with TomoTherapy (TT) after breast conservative surgery (BCS) in patients with invasive breast cancer. 

This study concluded that this treatment is safe and effective with good long-term outcomes in these patients.  

Breast conservative surgery (BCS) involves removing only the part of the breast where the cancer is located, rather than the entire breast. After BCS, radiotherapy is commonly given to prevent relapse in case any breast cancer cells remain after surgey. Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) is a type of radiation therapy given only to the part of the breast where the cancer is. It involves a higher dose of radiation over a shorter time than in standard whole-breast radiation therapy. 

TomoTherapy (TT) is a technique using computed tomography (CT) to direct radiation beams at the tumor site from different directions, without affecting healthy tissues. The long-term outcomes of APBI-TT after BCS after BCS in patients with invasive breast cancer were unknown. 

This study involved 242 patients with invasive BC. Patients were treated with BCS, followed by APBI-TT. Patients were followed up for an average of 76 months.

0.6% of patients had an invasive breast tumor recurrence in the same breast and 0.6% had a recurrence in the same side axilla. The recurrences in the breast happened after 8-15 months after BCS.  

At 5 years, 98.4% of patients were alive wihtout cancer progression. At 10 years, 92% of patients were alive without cancer progression. 96.8% of patients were alive after 5 years and 95.5% were alive after 10 years. 

8.3% of patients had mild short-term skin reactions related to radiation. 5.5% of patients had long-term mild skin reaction related to radiation. These included skin thinning (atrophy) and darkening and dilated blood vessels.  

This study concluded that BCS followed by APBI-TT is safe and effective in the long-term in patients with invasive breast cancer.  

This study did not include a control group for comparison. Further studies are needed,