radiotherapy: breast (again)

["Christoph Hofmeyr" <chofmeyr@nnr.co.za>]

Radsafers,

I posted a short query on Friday 8th in connection with radiotherapy as

part of breast conserving treatment for breast cancer.  Unfortunately

Murphy struck and our e-mail server has been out of action since that

time and all e-mail till this morning (Tuesday) was lost.  (I managed to

receive one valued response from Dr Vikram).  The question related to

relevant information, particularly on the applicable radiation type,

energy, dose, its fractionation and the period over which the treatment

is given (side-effects?).  Is the age of the subject a consideration?  I

would sincerely appreciate a reposting of information to me directly.

To add:  I have seen figures of 

"50 Gy fractionated into 2 Gy irradiations (5 per week)".  What would

the "effective dose" to the body be due to the localised irradiation,

and how much extra would the patient receive due to beam scattering,

etc.  The logical question coming to an RP person is then:  "how does

the probability of inducing a cancer by radiation compare with the

reduction in cancer recurrence effected by the additional radiotherapy,

compared with excision alone".  Thanks in advance.

Chris Hofmeyr

chofmeyr@nnr.co.za

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