Intra-operative partial breast irradiation versus external whole breast irradiation for early breast cancer

Intra-operative radiotherapy (IORT) is a new alternative way to give radiation therapy. During surgery to remove breast cancer, radiation is given as a single dose directly to the area where the tumor used to be. The aim of the study was to compare the results of IORT as partial breast irradiation and external whole breast irradiation (EBRT) for early breast cancer in elderly patients after breast-conserving surgery. The results were retrospectively analyzed from a single institution. We report 7-year results for local control.

Cross-sectional study.

Between November 2012 and December 2019, 21 Gy partial breast irradiation was applied intra-operatively to 40 selected patients. Two of these patients were excluded from the study, and 38 patients were evaluated. Also, 38 patients who had EBRT and had similar properties to that of IORT patients were selected to compare the treatment results in terms of local control.

SPSS version 21 was used for statistical analysis. Patient groups undergoing IORT and EBRT were analyzed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The groups were examined in terms of demographic features using t-test, and P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Local recurrence rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier analysis.

The median follow-up time was 58 months (range 20-95 months). The local control was 100% in both groups, and no local recurrences were observed.

IORT seems to be a safe and effective alternative to EBRT for early breast cancer in elderly patients.