[Electron arc therapy: application of chest wall irradiation after mastectomy]

With the development of multidisciplinary treatment for cancer, great changes have taken place in the therapeutic strategy of breast cancer. However, radiotherapy as a method of local management, still plays an important role in the combined treatment of breast cancer. The recurrence in the chest wall ranks the first, accounting for 44-69% of the total local-regional relapse, therefore, the chest wall is commonly regarded as the most important target of radiotherapy after mastectomy. The traditional irradiation techniques cannot reach an ideal dose distribution due to the irregular shape of the chest wall. Electron arc therapy, by using the electron characteristics of dose distribution, combining the shape of thorax and the depth of target volume, make the dose distribution of target volume more reasonable, decreases the dose of heart or lung and has more clinical benefit than traditional techniques. On the other hand, it had been demonstrated by some clinical research that irradiation with electron arc could provide a high rate of local control and generally acceptable acute and long-term toxicity, comparing with the traditional irradiation techniques.