Brachytherapy associated with twofold increased risk for Mastectomy

Compared with women treated with whole-breast irradiation, those treated with brachytherapy experienced a twofold increased risk for losing their breasts, according to results at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The study evaluated the Medicare claims of all U.S. female beneficiaries (n=130,535) aged older than 66 years diagnosed with incident-invasive Breast Cancer between 2000 and 2007. Patients were treated with conservative surgery followed by accelerated partial breast brachytherapy alone vs. whole-breast irradiation. Brachytherapy involves temporarily placing a small radioactive source in the breast after lumpectomy. Results show women treated with brachytherapy experience a twofold increased risk for subsequent mastectomy, indicating that women treated with brachytherapy were more likely to lose their breast after their initial breast-conserving therapy. Four percent of patients treated with brachytherapy vs. 2.2 percent of patients treated with whole-breast irradiation underwent a subsequent mastectomy. According to lead researcher Benjamin D. Smith, assistant professor in the department of radiation oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, there was nearly a twofold increased risk for postoperative infection and noninfectious complications in women treated with brachytherapy.