APBI Brachytherapy Associated with Higher Rate of Later Mastectomy, Increased Toxicities, and Post-Operative Complications, Compared to Traditional Radiation Therapy in Women with Early Breast Cancer

Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) brachytherapy, the localized form of radiation therapy growing increasingly popular as a treatment choice for women with early-stage breast cancer, is associated with higher rate of later mastectomy, increased radiation-related toxicities and post-operative complications, compared to traditional whole breast irradiation (WBI), according to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The retrospective study was presented in the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium's press briefing by Benjamin Smith, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, and in the meeting's scientific session by Grace Smith, M.D., Ph.D., a resident in MD Anderson's Department of Radiation Oncology and the study's first author.

"Our study compared the two radiation therapy techniques available to women with early-stage breast cancer. We found that women treated with accelerated partial breast irradiation therapy have a two-fold increased risk for subsequent mastectomy, most likely because of tumor recurrence or local complications, as well as an increased risk for post-operative and radiation-related complications," said Ben Smith, the study's senior author.

There are numerous types of APBI; the MD Anderson study only looked at the brachytherapy technique, in which a form of radiation treatment involving insertion of a catheter containing a radioactive source to kill breast cancer cells that may remain after lumpectomy surgery.

source: MD Anderson