Cancers, Vol. 15, Pages 5722: Proton Reirradiation for High-Risk Recurrent or New Primary Breast Cancer

Cancers, Vol. 15, Pages 5722: Proton Reirradiation for High-Risk Recurrent or New Primary Breast Cancer Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers15245722 Authors: Molly A. Chakraborty Atif J. Khan Oren Cahlon Amy J. Xu Lior Z. Braunstein Simon N. Powell J. Isabelle Choi Radiotherapy is an integral component of multidisciplinary breast cancer care. Given how commonly radiotherapy is used in the treatment of breast cancer, many patients with recurrences have received previous radiotherapy. Patients with new primary breast cancer may also have received previous radiotherapy to the thoracic region. Curative doses and comprehensive field photon reirradiation (reRT) have often been avoided in these patients due to concerns for severe toxicities to organs-at-risk (OARs), such as the heart, lungs, brachial plexus, and soft tissue. However, many patients may benefit from definitive-intent reRT, such as patients with high-risk disease features such as lymph node involvement and dermal/epidermal invasion. Proton therapy is a potentially advantageous treatment option for delivery of reRT due to its lack of exit dose and greater conformality that allow for enhanced non-target tissue sparing of previously irradiated tissues. In this review, we discuss the clinical applications of proton therapy for patients with breast cancer requiring reRT, the currently available literature and how it compares to historical photon reRT outcomes, treatment planning considerations, and questions in ...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research