Use of the Contura™ Catheter to Deliver Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation to "Low-risk" Breast Cancer Patients

The Cancer Center of Irvine is one of the busiest centers in the United States for Contura accelerated partial breast irradiation.

Inclusion criteria

• Able and willing to sign informed consent
• Age 50 or older at diagnosis
• Life expectancy greater than 10 years (excluding diagnosis of breast cancer)
• Surgical treatment of the breast must have been lumpectomy. The margins of the resected specimen must be histologically free of tumor (negative surgical margins per NSABP criteria)
• On histologic examination, the tumor must be DCIS and/or invasive breast carcinoma
• For patients with invasive breast cancer, an axillary staging procedure must be performed [either sentinel node biopsy or axillary dissection (with a minimum of 6 axillary nodes removed), and the axillary node(s) must be pathologically negative]
• The T stage must be Tis, T1, or T2. If T2, the tumor must be less than or equal to 3.0 cm in maximum diameter
• Estrogen receptor positive tumor

Exclusion criteria

• Age < 50 at diagnosis (regardless of histology)
• Pregnant or breast-feeding
• Active collagen vascular disease
• Paget's disease of the breast
• Prior history of DCIS or invasive breast cancer
• Prior breast or thoracic radiation therapy for any condition
• Multicentric carcinoma (DCIS or invasive)
• Synchronous bilateral invasive or non-invasive breast cancer
• Surgical margins that cannot be microscopically assessed or that are positive
• Positive axillary node(s)
• T stage of T2 with the tumor > 3 cm in maximum diameter or a T stage of T3 or T4
• Estrogen receptor negative tumor