According to a new study by the international group of researchers have suggested that for majority of the women with initial stage of breast cancer, a single dose of target radiotherapy at the time of surgery is equally beneficial as conventional radiotherapy.
Targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT) can be defined as combination of targeted radiotherapy (constrained to the area surrounding the tumor) that is provided immediately after the surgery. However, conventional radiotherapy requires repetition of doses to the entire breast for several days after surgery, thereby increasing number of hospital visits.
Moreover, researchers suggested that intraoperative radiotherapy results around 80% chance of evading a complete course of conventional radiotherapy, and this intraoperative exhibited very few side effects.
In this research study, group of researchers aimed to compare the long term effects of targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT) with conventional whole breast external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in women with initial stage of breast cancer. However, outcome of previous researches reported about the efficiency of single-dose targeted intraoperative radiotherapy, but researchers focused on longer term results before implementing the procedure on a broader perspective.
In this research study, researchers evaluated 2,298 women, who were aged 45 or older and eligible for breast conservation surgery (lumpectomy). Out of 2,298 women, 1,140 women received targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT) and remaining 1,158 underwent external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). TARGIT-IORT was provided as a single dose just after the surgery, which was part of the same operation and under the same anesthetic, whereas, EBRT was provided as a typical daily dose for 3-6 weeks after surgery.
However after long term follow up, researchers observed that TARGIT-IORT was equally beneficial as EBRT. Deaths from other causes were significantly lower with TARGIT-IORT in comparison to EBRT.
