To Boost or Not to Boost?

Additional breast irradiation after conventional whole-breast irradiation lowered local breast cancer recurrence rates in patients at high risk for relapse.

An extra radiation dose of 16 Gy (a “boost”), directed at the lumpectomy site following breast-conserving therapy plus whole-breast irradiation (WBI), resulted in lower local breast cancer recurrence rates than when no boost was given (J Clin Oncol 2007; 25:3259). Investigators examined a subset of patients from that study to determine the effects of tumor excision margin size, tumor pathology, and patient age on risk for local relapse after treatment with or without radiation boost.

Tumor samples from 1616 patients who underwent lumpectomies and WBI for stage I or II disease and who were randomly assigned to receive a radiation boost or no boost were scored according to their proximity to the inked surgical margin. A positive margin was def…

Reviewing Author

William J. Gradishar, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardLilly; AstraZeneca; Gilead

Grant/Research SupportBreast Cancer Research Foundation

Editorial BoardsClinical Breast Cancer; Oncology; Annals of Surgery; Breast Cancer Research and Treatment

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNational Comprehensive Cancer Network (Chair, Breast Cancer Panel); American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology Board)

William J. Gradishar, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardLilly; AstraZeneca; Gilead

Grant/Research SupportBreast Cancer Research Foundation

Editorial BoardsClinical Breast Cancer; Oncology; Annals of Surgery; Breast Cancer Research and Treatment

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNational Comprehensive Cancer Network (Chair, Breast Cancer Panel); American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology Board)