Hypofractioned radiotherapy
Hypofractioned radiotherapy

Hypofractioned radiotherapy helps recovery in breast cancer patients

The effectiveness is not inferior to conventional therapy – long-term studies have confirmed its success

Going for radiation treatment every weekday for six to seven weeks – that’s what treatment following breast-preserving surgery used to be like for patients. This is because the radiation dosage was spread out over between 30 and 35 individual doses, known as fractions. New technical developments have made hypofractioned radiotherapy, which is a shorter course of radiotherapy over a period of around three weeks, possible. In this procedure, the medical professionals take the radiobiological differences between healthy cells and tumor cells into account. Radiation oncologists recalculate the dosage fractioning so that a higher radiation dosage can be divided over fewer sessions.

Now a period of four and a half weeks is enough – hypofractioned radiotherapy is being researched further

Hypofractioned radiotherapy has also displayed the same level of effectiveness as the previous approach in long-term studies lasting over five to twelve years. A requirement for this is that, in addition to radiation of the breast, the surgical area itself is also treated with a stronger dosage of radiation, known as a boost. Hypofractioned radiotherapy lasting only three weeks has been made possible by a method that accompanies it. The simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) refers to the increased radiation of the surgical area during the regular radiotherapy of the entire breast. Previously, both areas were radiated one after the other. Ongoing studies have yet to show whether this combined procedure and therefore a reduction in radiation time to only three weeks is as effective as prior methods over the long term.

The precise positioning of the patients under the linear accelerator is becoming more and more important for improving the method of radiotherapy. That’s because even slight discrepancies can shift the radiation field. The dosage calculated therefore does not precisely hit the desired area and healthy tissue may be damaged. This is precisely where the Radiotherapy Patient System RPS comes into play and reliably assures an improvement in treatment quality through integrated safety mechanisms. If you would like to find out more, simply write us an email to info@gkteso.de.