Partial and accelerated breast radiotherapy using high dose rate brachytherapy for patients with early stage of breast cancer: uni-institutional analysis

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer in the world, and the most common among women, affecting men who account for 1% of all cases of the disease. The risk factors of the disease are related to age, endocrine / reproductive history, behavioral / environmental factors, and genetic / hereditary factors. The prognosis of the disease depends on its extension (staging), with greater curative potential when diagnosed at baseline.Among the types of treatment of breast cancer stand out surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and biological therapy. It is highlighted in the radiotherapy modality, Brachytherapy, which is the application of radiation in a more precise and localized way in the tumor. In this work we will focus on high-grade interstitial brachytherapy dose rate, partial and accelerated breast irradiation (IPAM), which has been shown to have better esthetic results, lower risk of injury from radiation from healthy adjacent tissues, shorter duration of treatment, and low recurrence rates. This is a retrospective, longitudinal, descriptive, analytical study, with a review of medical records of patients diagnosed with breast cancer, stages 0-I-II, between the years 2004 and 2013 who received IPAM using brachytherapy after conservative surgery of the breast at the Radium Institute of Campinas, Campinas-SP, Brazil.This work aims to report and evaluate the viability, acute and chronic toxicity, aesthetic aspects, efficacy and factors related to the use of Partial and Accelerated Breast Irradiation with high dose rate brachytherapy for patients with early stage of breast cancer. In addition to assessing recurrence rates and local control of the disease. (author)