ABSTRACT
Partial breast irradiation has expanded rapidly over the 10 last years and can be delivered either intraoperatively or postoperatively with brachytherapy using an applicator or a linear accelerator. Many of these developments in the field of partial breast irradiation have been driven by new devices and technologies. Adjuvant radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery is the standard of care for early breast cancer. The Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group meta-analysis included trials where radiotherapy was delivered to the whole breast. Partial breast radiotherapy involves targeting radiotherapy to the surgical cavity and a smaller volume of breast tissue around it, often referred to as the tumor bed. Two randomized trials in the late 1980s reported inferior results for partial breast radiotherapy including higher rates of local recurrence and breast fibrosis compared to whole breast radiotherapy. Neither of these trials used strict patient selection criteria, but nonetheless pioneered the concept of partial breast radiotherapy.
