Ongoing research suggests that in certain patients, it may be safe to give radiation treatment to only the part of the breast that had the tumor (instead of the whole breast), over a shorter period of time.
There are two different approaches to PBI:
- External beam radiation therapy is delivered in a similar way to standard whole breast radiation using a linear accelerator. However, it is more focused on the area around the surgery and does not treat the whole breast. Treatment occurs over a one- to two-week period.
- Breast brachytherapy (internal radiation) involves placing flexible plastic tubes called catheters, or a balloon-like device (BLD), directly into the space where the cancer was removed. A small, radioactive seed is guided into the catheters or BLD and the device is left in place for several minutes based on the treatment plan designed by your radiation oncologist. The procedure is repeated two times a day for a period of five days, then the catheters or BLD are removed and the treatment is finished.
Check with your radiation oncologist for more information.
