Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer

Radiation therapy represents an important aspect of breast cancer treatment. Application of irradiation reduces the incidence of local disease recurrence and improves overall survival of breast cancer patients. Studies have shown that adjuvant irradiation after breast-conserving surgery has the same result as a mastectomy, so adjuvant radiotherapy enables sparing surgery in breast cancer patients. We will review the mechanisms, indications and methods of the whole breast irradiation, as a standard approach to the treatment. The main directions and controversies of today’s research will be shown, primarily the introduction of hypofractionation, i.e. distribution of high daily doses of irradiation in a shorter overall period of treatment, as well as the application of partial breast irradiation, i.e. irradiation of a part of the breast instead of postoperative irradiation of the whole breast. Further molecular analysis of tumor biology will lead to the new prognostic and predictive parameters, and thus to the further personalization in the fi eld of breast cancer radiotherapy.