The MammoSite radiation therapy system is a novel technique for treatment of patients with early-stage breast cancer. It was developed to overcome the longer schedules associated with external-beam radiation therapy. It consists of a small balloon (4 cm in diameter) connected to an inflation channel and a catheter for the passage of a high dose rate 192Ir brachytherapy source. The device is pla...

HYPOTHESIS Balloon catheter-based accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) may result in desirable short-term outcomes in patients undergoing breast conserving surgery. DESIGN Prospective consecutive case series. SETTING Tertiary multidisciplinary referral center. PATIENTS Forty selected patients with invasive breast carcinoma undergoing breast conserving surgery and MammoSite device...

BACKGROUND Accelerated partial breast irradiation via interstitial balloon brachytherapy is a fast and effective treatment method for certain early stage breast cancers however skin, chest wall and Lung doses are correlated with toxicity in patients treated with breast brachytherapy. OBJECTIVE To investigate the percentage of the dose received by critical organ (skin), thermoluminescence dete...

PURPOSE To assess the radiation dose delivered to the heart and ipsilateral lung during accelerated partial breast brachytherapy using a MammoSite applicator and compare to those produced by whole breast external beam radiotherapy (WBRT). MATERIALS AND METHODS Dosimetric analysis was conducted on patients receiving MammoSite breast brachytherapy following conservative surgery for invasive duc...

For women undergoing breast-conserving surgery, recent reports suggest that in selected cases accelerated partial breast irradiation may yield results equal to that of whole breast irradiation. Over 31 months, 19 patients underwent accelerated partial breast irradiation using the MammoSite as the sole radiation treatment following breast-conserving surgery. Seventeen patients had the MammoSite ...

This work compares two accelerated partial breast irradiation modalities, MammoSite brachytherapy and three dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), to a new method, SAVI brachytherapy, following NSABP B-39 guidelines. A total of 21 patients treated at UC San Diego with the SAVI device were evaluated in this comparison. 9 of the 21 patients were eligible for all three modalities and were do...

Background: Accelerated partial breast irradiation via interstitial balloon brachytherapy is a fast and effective treatment method for certain early stage breast cancers however skin, chest wall and Lung doses are correlated with toxicity in patients treated with breast brachytherapy.Objective: To investigate the percentage of the dose received by critical organ (skin), thermoluminescence detec...

PURPOSE To present a retrospective multi-institutional experience of patients treated with the MammoSite radiation therapy system (RTS). METHODS AND MATERIALS Nine institutions participated in a pooled analysis of data evaluating the clinical experience of the MammoSite RTS for delivering accelerated partial breast irradiation. Between 2000 and 2004, 483 patients were treated with the MammoSi...

background: accelerated partial breast irradiation via interstitial balloon brachytherapy is a fast and effective treatment method for certain early stage breast cancers however skin, chest wall and lung doses are correlated with toxicity in patients treated with breast brachytherapy. objective: to investigate the percentage of the dose received by critical organ (skin), thermoluminescence dete...

Accelerated partial breast irradiation is commonly done with the MammoSite applicator, which requires symmetry to treat the patient. This paper describes three cases that were asymmetric when initially placed and became symmetric over time, without manipulation.