MONDAY, Dec. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Brachytherapy after lumpectomy may be an effective alternative to conventional treatments in women with early-stage breast cancer who have undergone breast augmentation, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America held Nov. 30 to Dec. 5 in Chicago.
Robert R. Kuske Jr., M.D., of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Scottsdale, and colleagues studied 65 women who received two daily treatments of high-dose rate Iridium-192 brachytherapy for five days.
After a median follow-up of 16 months, the researchers found that none of the women experienced tumor recurrence or capsular contracture, a common and painful side effect in women with breast implants who receive whole-breast radiation therapy after lumpectomy.
"The markedly improved cosmetic outcomes and reduced capsular contracture rates are likely due to the lack of circumferential dose to the foreign body in the breast, the augmentation implant," the authors conclude.
Kuske is a consultant for Nucletron and for Cianna Medical.
More Information
More Information
