Lancet: IORT for Breast - the TARGIT-A trial

In the Lancet

Previously available online and presented at ASCO, the TARGIT-A trial is published in Lancet today. To briefly recap - this multinational randomized trial looked at conventional fracitonation vs 20Gy in a single treatment intraoperatively. 4 year data shows similar local control, with potentially slightly less toxicity, and clearly less time and resources devoted. While the time points evaluated are still too early to replace the standard of care in all patients, in selected patients, this approach is potentially very attractive.

Link:

[Articles] Targeted intraoperative radiotherapy versus whole breast radiotherapy for breast cancer (TARGIT-A trial): an international, prospective, randomised, non-inferiority phase 3 trial: "After breast-conserving surgery, 90% of local recurrences occur within the index quadrant despite the presence of multicentric cancers elsewhere in the breast. Thus, restriction of radiation therapy to the tumour bed during surgery might be adequate for selected patients. We compared targeted intraoperative radiotherapy with the conventional policy of whole breast external beam radiotherapy."