[Partial breast irradiation: high dose rate peroperative brachytherapy technique using the MammoSite]

In the conservative management of breast cancer, radiation therapy delivering 45 to 50 Gy to the whole breast, in 4.5 to 5 weeks, followed by a booster dose of 10 to 20 Gy is the standard of care. Based on the numerous studies which have reported that the local recurrences occurs within and surrounding the primary tumor site and in order to decrease the treatment duration and its morbidity, partial breast irradiation using several techniques has been developed. Partial irradiation may be considered as an alternative local adjuvant treatment for selected patients with favorable prognostic factors. Using external beam radiation therapy, the 3D-conformal technique is appropriate to deliver the whole dose to a limited volume. In UK, an intraoperative technique using a miniature beam of low energy of x-ray (50 Kv) has been developed (Targit). Milan's team have developed an intraoperative electrons beam radiotherapy using a dedicated linear accelerator in the operative room. In USA and Canada the MammoSite has been advised for clinical use in per-operative brachytherapy of the breast. These two last techniques are currently compared in phase III randomised studies to the standard whole breast irradiation followed by a tumour bed booster dose. In this review we will focus on the MammoSite technique and will describe the per-operative implantation procedure, radiological controls ad dosimetric aspects.