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Balloon breast brachytherapy

Radswiki and Stefano Pacifici et al.

Balloon breast brachytherapy (BBB) is a technique for delivering radiation treatment in women with early stage breast cancer. It is given after lumpectomy, or surgical removal of a small breast cancer, it is a short alternative to the more traditional method of using seven weeks of external beam radiation.

Balloon breast brachytherapy is performed with the Mammosite® device, a single soft catheter with a balloon at the tip placed in the lumpectomy cavity either at the time of lumpectomy, or as an office procedure following surgery. The balloon is then inflated with saline solution up to a diameter of about 2 inches to accommodate the individual cavity, after which an 192Ir radiation source, connected to a computer-controlled high-dose rate remote afterloader, is inserted into the inflated balloon for several minutes to deliver the dose of radiation.

The treatments, which takes about 20 minutes, are usually given on outpatient fashion twice daily for five days. Once the therapy is concluded, the balloon is deflated and the catheter is removed. This method is similar to that used for prostate cancer brachytherapy, using radioactive seeds, and is completely painless.

The major advantages of balloon breast brachytherapy are a decrease in the duration of treatment (it shortens it to five days), a reduction of the amount of healthy tissue exposed to radiation and an excellent cosmetic outcome. The main factors limiting the use of the Balloon breast brachytherapy are inadequate skin distance and poor cavity conformance.