Key clinical point: Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using multicatheter brachytherapy after breast-conserving surgery is as effective as and safer than whole breast irradiation (WBI) and can be an excellent alternative to WBI in patients with early breast cancer (BC).
Major finding: The 10-year local recurrence rate was similar in the WBI (1.58%) and APBI (3.51%) groups ( P = .074), and the incidence of treatment-related late side-effects worse than grade 2 was significantly lower in the APBI vs WBI group ( P = .021).
Study details : Findings are from the phase 3, GEC-ESTRO trial including 1328 women with early invasive BC who were randomly assigned to receive WBI or APBI.
Disclosures: This study was funded by German Cancer Aid, Germany. Some authors declared receiving grants, consulting fees, financial support, or payment from several sources.
Source: Strnad V, Polgár C, et al, on behalf of Groupe Européen de Curiethérapie and European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology . Accelerated partial breast irradiation using sole interstitial multicatheter brachytherapy compared with whole-breast irradiation with boost for early breast cancer: 10-year results of a GEC-ESTRO randomised, phase 3, non-inferiority trial. Lancet Oncol. 2023 (Feb 1). Doi: 10.1016S1470-2045(23)00018-9