Partial Breast Radiation

Hello Cassie,

The partial breast radiation was my idea. I wanted to have brachytherapy and was a good candidate for it but after bits of information I found out I’d need a general anaesthetic which is not for me unless absolutely necessary. My 2nd choice then was partial as I had a solid papillary carcinoma in situ 0 stage ( precancerous) only 3% of all breast cancers and I read small tesearch studies online that showed no difference in the prognosis with or without radiation ( still good) even for invasive and mine was non invasive. Maybe I stated that invorrectly for invasive the same number of patients did well or not and radiation made no difference .

My surgeon said ( even thpugh I had clear lymph nodes and clear margins) that I still shpuld have some radiation and my radiation oncologist said 16 treatments. I’m seriously considering stopping soon for many reasons

I am the first patient at this Cancer Centre in my home city to have partial but my oncologist support ed the decision . I woild ask how many patients they have had previously but I wouldnt let it dissuade me as I do think that I would choose it again..

Hi Cassie,

Brachytherapy is a type of radiation, the surgical insertion of extremely small microbeads that provide low dose radiation in a very small atea where the tumour was for about two months then stop. The microbeads stay there the rest of the patient’s life .

I think the way I worded my problems with general anaesthetic in such a wsy that you thpught I didn’t have surgery but I did. Mid December I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy ( 3 nodes).

My GP told me to google the exact type of tumour that I had and add the words “and treatment “ at the end and that’s how I found the three studies. There was no mention of whether any had full or partial radiation just that there was no difference in the outcome with or without radiation.

Hi Cassie,

My reason for questioning continuing is not the set up time, I’ve grown used to that now but I don’t like the idea of multiple xrays. Here it’s routine to have a CT scan and xray for the planning appointment and then xrays for at least the first two treatments since they had to replan for me that has meant 6 xrays plus 2 more as they can’t seem to do the alignment without an xray and then my oncologist looks at it and then they do the radiation. As I’m really low risk ( My terminology based on everything I’ve read) I wonder if all this extra radiation from the xray is worth it. Also since it’s my left breast i have some concern about my lung and heart . My doctors did not recommemd any hormonal treatment like tamoxifen or other which i am grateful about. So far my skin is holding up well. I slather on a lot of an aloe vera cream twice a day ( not on the recommended list) but I also use a bit of calendula cream. In addition my homeopath has given me a radiation side effects remedy that i take each day of treatment ( not at all mainstream). I do feel some heat and very mild pain internally now though.

For some reason I was not receiving posts but contacted moderators and reconnected so I'll join in again. My partial breast radiation here on the west coast in Canada was done very differently. I was only the third person to have this so maybe no real protocol which is a bit concerning. I had only two xrays at the first planning appointment where I also had a CT scan and a mold fitting. I was supposed to have one xray before each of the next three treatments and no more but I had so much more than that and I don't think this was factored into my total amount of radiation ( I just saying this in laypersons terms as no one called it what you are both referring to, with me). Each time they would have problems with alignment and I always had two xrays and sometimes three or four and then the radiation oncologist would come to the unit look at the xrays and tell them if they could proceed with radiation. I even had two extra planning sesssions as they were having so much trouble. Only two therapists out of about twelve seemed to have little difficulty but that was three days out of twelve ! My time on the steel cot was always 25-45 minutes ! In total I had between 26-32 xrays !!! After day 10 I expressed my real concern to oncologist and she said it was still a low dose... I'm very dubious as well and although Ihad very few side effects I did have a reddened area on the neck and upper chest not on my breast for two weeks after ! I wonder if they even radiated the right area ... and what will happen later on. I stopped after twelve of the sixteen treatments .

i see that you have posted a lot and I’ve missed it all, a bit disappointing that I was bumped off this forum for a while and didnt even know that a couple of you were posting. Is WBR whole breast radiation? What is hypofractionated ? I hope that your treatments are going well or maybe you are finished by now?

Hi cowgirl3,

Thanks for posting about your progress. I'm so glad that you are doing very well. My prognosis is good so I feel really positive ( and have all along once I knew what I had ) . My only concern is that my partial breast radiation was a real learning experience for my therapists and they had great difficulty with alignment which resulted in so many more xrays than they told me I would have. My Rad.Onc. was coming down my last 5 days and looking at the xrays before radiation. I slathered on aloe vera cream twice a day and had almost no pink skin issue. Right after I stopped on the 12th of 16 treatments my neck and upper chest above my breast was read for almost two weeks, which sermed very odd.