Abstract:
Radiotherapy is the standard treatment for local control in Stage-II and above, Cancer breast. The Radiotherapy centers are overburdened with the limited facilities available. Conventional Radiotherapy of Cancer breast includes treatment on Cobalt —60 or 4-6 MV X-rays with tangential fields for the chest wall and direct fields for axillaries, supraclavicular, and internal mammary nodes with radiation dose of 50 gray in 5wks. This take s about 20-30 minutes per patient. To overcome the excess burden, the conventional treatment is being replaced by modified time, dose fractionation (TDF) technique. The paper compares acute skin reactions observed in patients treated by conventional treatment (50 Gy/5wks on Co-60) with reduced overall time (40 Gy/3wks on Co-60) with a third group of patients treated on Electrons (40 Gy/3wks Co-60+E). The later techniques are being practiced at many renowned radiotherapy centers in the world e.g. Christie Hospital, Manchester 100 patients from each group were selected. These TDF regimens have same biological effectiveness. In conventional treatment group, Grade-II reactions mostly were observed in 51% cases. In modified fractionation at Co-60, similar reactions were observed in only 23% patients treated with Electrons + Cobalt 60. Two patients experienced chest wall necrosis in this group. Immediate reactions with modified TDF are less severe than with conventional regimens. Time on machine is also economized, so in future we plan to practice this regimen for breast cancer patients.
Page(s):
101-103
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Nucleus, Volume: 33, Issue: 3, Year: 1996