Axillary nodal irradiation practice in the sentinel lymph node biopsy era: Comparison of the contemporary available 3D and IMRT techniques.

CONCLUSION: AT is a valuable technique for RNI including axilla in patients with limited sentinel lymph node biopsy involvement without additional axillary lymph node dissection since it decreases hotspots in the target volume and lowers the radiation exposure of the OAR. For more advanced tumors or patients who did not respond to primary systemic therapy, CT or IMRT should be considered because of their better coverage of the potentially residual nodal disease. IMRT combines several advantages of offering high conformal plans, limited hotspots and protection of main OAR. The clinical impact of these dosimetric differences need to be addressed.
ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This study is to our knowledge the first to compare conventional three-dimensional and IMRT techniques for regional nodal irradiation for each nodal station in breast cancer in a context of increasing utilization of axillary irradiation.
PMID: 32233939 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: The British Journal of Radiology - March 31, 2020 Category: Radiology Authors: Belkacemi Y, Loganadane G, Ghith S, Li X, Majdoul S, Grellier N, Jmour O, Bret CL, Hervé ML, Hadhri A, To NH, Fayolle-Campana M, Colson-Durand L Tags: Br J Radiol Source Type: research