High-energy X-rays, protons, or other particles are used in radiation therapy for breast cancer to kill cancer cells. Rapidly growing cells, such as cancer cells, are more sensitive to radiotherapy than normal cells. Cancer cells less potential to repair DNA damage caused by radiation.
The X-rays or particles are painless and invisible. You will not become radioactive after treatment, hence it is safe to be close to others, including children.
Breast cancer radiation therapy can be delivered by:
- External radiation- Radiation is delivered to the breast via a machine from outside the body. The most popular radiation therapy for breast cancer is this one. There are different techniques like 3DCRT, IMRT, IGRT, VMAT for doing external radiotherapy.
- Internal radiation (brachytherapy)- Your doctor will temporarily implant a radiation-delivery device in your breast in the region where the cancer was after performing surgery to remove it. Throughout the duration of your treatment, a radioactive source is inserted into the apparatus for brief periods of time. This is less commonly used.
Why is it done?
Cancer cells are destroyed by radiation therapy. It’s frequently used after surgery to reduce the risk that cancer will come back. Additionally, it can be used to relieve pain and other signs and symptoms of advanced breast cancer.
- Radiation after lumpectomy
A lumpectomy removes the cancerous tumour, leaving most of the breast. Radiation therapy lowers your risk of cancer coming back in the remaining breast tissue or nearby lymph nodes as well as reduces your chance of passing away of breast cancer.
If you’re having an operation to remove the breast cancer & leave the remaining breast tissue intact (lumpectomy or breast-conserving surgery), your doctor may recommend radiation after your procedure to kill any cancer cells that might remain. Adding radiation after a lumpectomy reduces the risk that cancer will return to the affected breast.
- Radiation after mastectomy
Radiation can also be used after mastectomy. In this situation, the radiation can kill any cancer cells that might remain and reduce the risk that cancer may recur in the remaining tissues of the chest wall or lymph nodes.
- Radiation for locally advanced breast cancer
Radiation therapy can also be used to treat:
- Breast cancers that can’t be removed with surgery.
- Inflammatory breast cancer, an aggressive type of cancer that spreads to the lymph channels of the skin covering the breast. This type of cancer is typically treated with chemotherapy before a mastectomy, followed by radiation, to decrease the chance of recurrence.
- Radiation for managing metastatic breast cancer
If your breast cancer cell has spread (metastasized) to other parts of the body, when this happens, radiation therapy may be recommended to shrink cancer and help control specific spots where cancer has spread.
