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Partial breast irradiation: a community hospital approach
Schiffler Cancer Center, Wheeling, WV
Adjuvant radiotherapy remains a staple in the definitive management of breast cancer, but its benefits vary according to patient- and tumor-specific characteristics. Partial breast irradiation (PBI) has become an increasingly popular treatment option for a number of reasons: in-breast tumor recurrence patterns following breast-conserving surgery are now well documented; patients want to reduce their travel time; the cost of PBI is lower than that of other options; and toxicity may be reduced as well. This article describes the various forms of PBI, presents detailed data on our community hospital experience, and discusses some of the latest PBI series, with specific attention paid to toxicity issues.
| Commun Oncol 2007;4:37–42 | full text |  151 kb |