TY - JOUR
TI - A review on radiotherapy hypofractionation schedules for breast cancer treatment
AU - Armpilia, C.
AU - Antypas, C.
AU - Zygogianni, A.
AU - Balafouta, M.
AU - Sandilos, P.
AU - Kouvaris, J.
JO - Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice
PY - 2011
VL - 10
TODO - 3
SP - 201-208
PB - 
SN - 1460-3969, 1467-1131
TODO - 10.1017/S1460396910000294
TODO - breast cancer;  cancer control;  cancer patient;  cancer radiotherapy;  controlled study;  human;  morbidity;  partial mastectomy;  prospective study;  quality of life;  radiation dose;  radiation dose fractionation;  radiosensitivity;  randomized controlled trial;  review;  squamous cell carcinoma
TODO - Radiation therapy is an integral part of management in breast carcinoma treatment. Standard curative schedules of radiotherapy to the breast deliver 25 fractions of 2.0 Gy per day over 5-6 weeks. Considerable recent literature suggests that hypo-fractionation may be advisory in breast cancer. The use of fewer fractions of more than 2 Gy per day (hypo-fractionation) is based on data suggesting that breast carcinoma is more sensitive to fraction size than squamous carcinomas and therefore could have similar fractionation sensitivity to the dose-limiting healthy tissues, including skin, subcutaneous tissues, muscle and ribs. In this article, a review of published studies and currently ongoing trials, which may provide evidence for the use of hypo-fractionated radiotherapy in breast cancer patients, is presented. Also, for all these different hypo-fractionation regimens found in literature, biologically effective dose (BED) values are calculated and compared. Data from studies and randomised trials seem to support the concept that modest hypo-fractionation can be used to treat the whole breast after breast-conserving surgery with similar rates of local control and radiation morbidity as seen with conventional fractionation. © Copyright Cambridge University Press 2011.
ER -