Comparison of acute adverse effect between hypofractionated and conventionally fractionated whole-breast irradiation in early breast cancer patients

We have conducted a clinical trial to evaluate whether the hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation (HF-WBI) is equally effective and safe with conventional fractionated whole-breast irradiation (CF-WBI) The HF-WBI consisted of 43.2 Gy/16 f to the whole breast with additional tumor bed boost of 8.1 Gy/3 f for positive or less than 5 mm surgical margins. From 1 of April 2006 to 31 of December 2009, 831 cases were registered and 848 breasts were treated. Grade 2 acute skin reactions were observed in 21 cases (4%) in HF-WBI and 40 cases (13%) in CF-WBI (p<0.001). In short-term results, we might conclude that HF-WBI has almost the same effectiveness and safety as CF-WBI. (author)