Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy uses high-energy radiation to treat cancer.

It is normally used after a lumpectomy, targets the breast and sometimes also the lymph nodes area, and is used to destroy any cancer cells left after surgery reducing the chances of disease recurrence.

Less frequently, radiotherapy can be used after a mastectomy. This occurs in cases where there is a very high risk of breast of cancer recurrence.

In this case, and since radiotherapy is known to interfere with breast reconstruction, plastic surgeons and oncologists work together to offer women who chose immediate breast reconstruction the best post-mastectomy radiotherapy protocol. The aim is to achieve excellent localized cancer control with minimum side effects, so to not compromise breast reconstruction. Patients who need systemic cancer therapy, such as chemotherapy, might also receive radiotherapy once chemo is completed.

Patients who need systemic cancer therapy, such as chemotherapy, might also receive radiotherapy once chemo is completed.

Neoadjuvant therapy

Another option is to use radiotherapy (or other treatments) to shrink the tumor before surgery to increase its chance of success and remove as little of the breast as possible.

This type of approach - acting on the tumor before surgery - is called neoadjuvant

Metastatic breast cancer

Besides being used to prevent cancer recurrence, radiotherapy (as chemotherapy) can also be used when the cancer is advanced, as in the case of metastatic cancer (when the tumor has spread through the body). Here these treatments serve not only to control the cancer, but also to alleviate its symptoms, for example to alleviate the pain caused by metastases.