Has anyone had balloon-catheter internal radiation?

Infobabe, best of luck at your lumpectomy - when you are able, please post so we know you are ok! But we have all been through this and know the first thing you do when you come home is NOT get on the computer :-)   I will say prayers for you tonight A young friend of 34 just had her lumpectomy today (4/30). 

Shayne - I got your email, I'm just so behind on emails with overtime at work. And I had choir practice tonight and donl't get home till 1015pm and then had to eat dinner....and I have to get to bed now as I have my psychollogist appt before work tomorrow......always a fun time, lol. Will be in touch soon! 

Infobabe - no additional treatment is a reasonable option for someone your age with your stage of breast cancer.  It is exactly what I would want my mother to do.  I have a friend who's in her early 60's.  She had a tiny DCIS which was removed during the biopsy.  Her lumpectomy showed no additional cancer and she passed on radiation.  She took Arimidex for about a year and developed cataracts, so now she is not taking any hormonals.  Her surgeon and oncologist agree with this approach, based on the size of her DCIS. 

By the way, someone mentioned that if you had brachytherapy and had a recurrence, you would not be able to have full breast radiation.  I can attest that you can, and I did.  Unfortunately I did have a recurrence in the area of my Mammotome biopsy scar, I went to Dana Farber, my doctor was the Chair of Radiation Oncology, and he found a way to give me a full course of radiation. 

Info - sorry, I just am now seeing this and got your PM. We are on mandatory overtime at work and I'm so behind on so many things.

I agree with Luv that no treatment may be a very valid option since you caught it at such an early stage and non invasive. I am very fair skinned so I totally understand that part. See what the path report says, but you laid out very well your multiple options. And sometimes no treament IS the best option.

You are still in my prayers......you will know what the right decision is once you have all the facts.

Cheri 

I had Mammosite four months after my lumpectomy for 8 mm IDC, grade 2, ER/PR + HER neg, no nodal involvement.  No problems, very easy and convenient.  I had chosen this therapy not for the convenience but to get as little radiation as possible and to try to confine it to the lumpectomy cavity.  Had a close to the surface area which became quite red and painful; used argan oil (Marin brand) and it worked well.  I asked why this particular therapy is not used more and was told because it costs less (one third less) than the whole breast radiation.

infobabe - thats what my RO said to me......but in his words he said "Not that it wouldnt "work" ... just that we havent done enough of them......"

"On this board someone said she was offfered it with Stage 2, which I think is very inappropriate.  I think it should be just Stage 0.  Anything infiltrating is getting too dicy."

Although I agree that Stage 2 should be cautious, the preferred stage for use of mammosite or other Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI) is T1 and not Stage 0. 

The following article describes guidelines from the major professional society of radiation oncologists for APBI based on the data available. 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360301609003137

Criteria for being "suitable" for APBI include patient age >= 60 years old, no BRCA 1/2 mutation, tumor size <= 2 cm., Stage T1, margins negative by at least 2 mm., no lymph-vascular space invasion, ER+, unicentric only, clinically unifocal with total size <= 2 cm., invasive ductal or other favorable histology, not pure DCIS, no extensive intraductal (i.e. DCIS) component, pathologically node negative, sentinel node biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection. The article goes on to loosen some of those criteria in defining a "cautionary" group for whom APBI may be considered, as well as a group of patients for whom APBI is "unsuitable".

Some radiation oncologists are more favorably inclined toward APBI than others and use of these guidelines, especially for the "cautionary" group will vary.

According to the guidelines the stage criteria for the preferred category is T1, a small well-defined IDC without much of any DCIS.  Pure DCIS or IDC + DCIS would put you in the cautionary category.  Still may be OK but not as favorable for APBI as T1.

Although DCIS is preferable to IDC if you could choose your diagnosis, it is not better in all respects.  When considering partial breast irradiation, the doctor is looking for a small defined tumor.  DCIS has a tendency to spread out in the breast and a larger area of the breast may need to be treated for DCIS than for very early stage IDC.

Hoping for clear margins for you on the 15th!  Im sure it will be!!

keep us posted......