Intraoperative Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer: Long-Term Experience.

Authors

Shlomit Fennig, Anna Kirshtein, Yosef Landman, Noam Weiner, Eyal Fenig, Eran Sharon

Published in

Annals of surgical oncology. Jun 29, 2026. Epub Jun 29, 2026.

Abstract

Targeted intraoperative radiation therapy (TARGIT-IORT) is a promising alternative to standard external radiation for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer. However, American Society for Radiation Oncology guidelines have limited its use. We aimed to present our long-term results with the use of TARGIT-IORT in a very restricted population.
The electronic records of a tertiary medical center were retrospectively searched for women diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma from 2014 to 2023. Inclusion criteria were age > 50 years, unifocal disease, tumor size < 3 cm, and clinical subtype estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-non-amplified. Those with a favorable pathology after completion of lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) underwent TARGIT-IORT consisting of delivery of a single high dose of radiation (20 Gy) to an applicator inserted into the tumor bed using low-energy X-rays (50 Kv) over 22-29 minutes. Follow-up consisted of clinical examination every 6 months in the first 2 years and then mammography and breast ultrasound annually.
The cohort included 219 patients with a median age of 66 years (range 50-83). During a median follow-up of 85 months, there was one case each (0.45%) of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence, axillary lymph node recurrence, and isolated liver metastasis. In total, 20 patients (9.1%) had minor wound complications, and three (1.4%) had fat necrosis, self-limiting in all cases, with no need for hospital readmission.
TARGIT-IORT is associated with excellent local control, very high survival rates, and a very low toxicity profile for low-risk early breast cancer, consistent with the TARGIT-A trial and should be offered to patients when suitable.

PMID:
42371320
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Jun 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.