Adjuvant whole breast radiotherapy with simultaneous integrated boost to tumor bed with intensity modulated radiotherapy technique in elderly breast cancer patients

Breast conserving surgery followed by adjuvant whole breast radiation is the standard of care for early breast cancer now. Adjuvant whole breast radiotherapy with or without tumor bed boost (1) reduces ipsilateral breast tumor recurrences (IBTR) and also contributes to improved overall survival (OS) (2). Currently, over 40% of early-staged breast cancer patients are aged ≥65-year-old in United States (3). With increasing life expectancy, advance of patient’s awareness, and ongoing screening programs, it can be expected that more early-staged breast cancer will be diagnosed in the elderly in the future. Since most of the clinical trials exclude senior patients, the actual benefit of radiotherapy in elderly patient group remains a matter of debate