for those deciding between balloon catheter APBI and 7 week whole breast radiation

[Lani]

criteria for who may be a candidate spelled out:
Ultrasound Helpful Prior to Breast-Sparing Brachytherapy

Richard Hyer
November 30, 2006 (Chicago) — The results of a 4-year study from Northwestern University support the role of ultrasound guidance for percutaneous placement of balloon catheters prior to breast-sparing brachytherapy. The study was announced in a news conference here at the 92nd scientific assembly and annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"The purpose of our study is to describe and report our experience in adapting ultrasound-guided breast interventional techniques, that most breast radiologists are expert at, for percutaneous placement, in breast imaging suites, of this new therapeutic device for brachytherapy following lumpectomy in early stage breast cancer," said Ellen B. Mendelson, MD, at a news conference.

Dr. Mendelson is director of breast imaging for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine's Department of Radiology at the Lynn Sage Breast Center in Chicago, Illinois.

The device used in the study is a balloon catheter device known as MammoSite (Cytyc Corp, Marlborough, Massachusetts). Dr. Mendelson said that Northwestern began doing these procedures in 2002 at the request of the hospital's radiation oncologists.

More than 212,000 new breast cancers will be diagnosed this year in the United States. Screening mammography has made possible the detection of tumors at smaller sizes and lower stages and, according to Dr. Mendelson, most eligible women select breast conservation over radical mastectomy.

"Survival has been found, in several decades of follow-up, to be equal in radical mastectomy and lumpectomy with radiation therapy, stage for stage, in breast cancer patients," Dr. Mendelson told the conference.

Whole-breast irradiation is the traditional standard of care, and for most women, this means a 6-week commitment with treatment 5 days a week. Partial breast irradiation (PBI) involves less time. This alternative can take several forms, including the insertion of radioactive iridium seeds, 3-dimensional conformal external beam radiotherapy, and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT).