Preoperative Partial Breast Irradiation: Marked Benefit in Low-Risk Breast Cancer

Offering MRI-guided partial breast irradiation before surgery to patients with low-risk breast cancer could become the norm, according to Yasmin Civil, MD, in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands, who reported 5-year results from the ABLATIVE trial to the 14th European Breast Cancer Conference. The researchers found that single-dose, MRI-guided, partial breast irradiation given before breast-conserving surgery achieved durable pathologic complete remissions in low-risk breast cancer, as well as held out the prospect of surgery-free treatment for some patients.  After giving her talk in Milan, Civil discussed the details of the ABLATIVE study findings with Peter Goodwin.