Objective: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of intraoperative radiotherapy during breast-conserving surgery instead of whole breast radiotherapy in early breast cancer patients.
Methods: From July 2008 to December 2012, 36 early breast cancer patients underwent breast-conserving surgery plus interoperative radiotherapy on a Mobetron 1000 mobile electron accelerator. Postoperative recurrence and metastases, complications and cosmetic outcomes were recorded and analyzed.
Results: During a median follow-up period of 27.9 months, 2 patients (5.56%) underwent mastectomy after local relapses. There was no occurrence of distant metastasis or mortality. Their average wound healing time was 17 days and 2 of them (5.56%) developed infection while another 2 (5.56%) had delayed wound healing. And 1 patient (2.78%) showed wound edema and neither necrosis nor hematoma was found. The evaluation of cosmetic outcome shows 32 patients (88.89%) were graded as excellent or good while another 4 (11.11%) fair or poor. None had radiotherapy-related acute hemotological toxicity and 2 patients (5.56%) developed skin pigmentation.
Conclusion: Intraoperative radiotherapy during breast-conserving surgery instead of whole breast radiotherapy in early breast cancer patients is both safe and reliable with better cosmetic outcomes.