Partial breast irradiation after breast-conserving surgery.

The standard technique of postoperative radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery is percutaneous irradiation of the entire breast to a total dose of 45-50 Gy which is usually followed by a tumor bed boost. Since the majority of local recurrences in selected patients occur close to the former tumor bed, the question arises whether a sole tumor bed irradiation might be a therapeutic alternative to total breast irradiation.