Intraoperative radiotherapy for breast cancer

Postoperative radiotherapy, which forms part of breast-conserving therapy, may not need to encompass the whole breast. Apart from the consumption of huge resources and patients' time, postoperative radiotherapy deters many women from receiving the benefits of breast-conserving surgery, forcing them to choose a mastectomy instead. If radiotherapy could be given in the operating theatre immediately after surgery, many of these disadvantages could be overcome. One striking fact about local recurrence after breast-conserving surgery is that most occurs in the area of breast immediately next to the primary tumour; this is despite the finding that two-thirds of mastectomy samples have microscopic tumours distributed throughout the breast, even when radiotherapy is omitted. Thus, only the area adjacent to the tumour may need treatment with radiotherapy. On the basis of this premise, clinical scientists have used new technology to administer radiotherapy to the area at greatest risk of local recurrence, with the aim of completing the whole local treatment in one sitting. In this review, we have elaborated on the rationale and different methods of delivery of intraoperative radiotherapy. If this approach is validated by the results of current randomised trials, it could save time, money, and breasts.