Thursday 3 May 2012

Association between treatment with brachytherapy vs whole breast irradiation

Association between treatment with brachytherapy vs whole breast irradiation and subsequent mastectomy, complications, and survival among older women with invasive breast cancer. JAMA, 2012, Vol. 307(17), p.1827-1837.

Smith, G.L., et al.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/307/17/1827.short?rss=1

Brachytherapy is a radiation treatment that uses an implanted radioactive source. In recent years, use of breast brachytherapy after lumpectomy for early breast cancer has increased substantially despite a lack of randomized trial data comparing its effectiveness with standard whole-breast irradiation (WBI).