[ RadSafe ] Energies used in Breast Irradiation

[Cary Renquist]

Most likely electron beam not x-ray.
The 40+ Gy is likely delivered in ~2 Gy shots to the whole breast.  I
think that the 10 Gy "boost" shot will be delivered to just the tumor
site.
I think that it is supposed to help reduce the chance of local
recurrence.

Cary 

---
Cary Renquist
cary.renquist at ezag.com

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Rees, Brian G
Sent: Monday, 24 January 2011 12:45
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Energies used in Breast Irradiation

I have a friend that had Milk Duct In Situ Carcinoma (breast cancer),
she had a lumpectomy and is now going to have breast irradiation.  Since
I had the opportunity for her to ask, I had her ask about the treatment.
The energy of the x-rays will be 6 and 18 Mev, these seem awfully high
since the probability of interaction is pretty low for an 18 Mev x-ray
in tissue... can somebody help me to understand this?  They also
mentioned a "boost" of 10 Gy, what does that refer to? ("whole breast
dose is reached at 4256 cGy, boost delivers an additional 1000 cGy")

Thanks,
Brian Rees, CHP, RRPT
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