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Intensity-modulated radiotherapy for breast cancer: a systematic review

  • Published:
The Chinese-German Journal of Clinical Oncology

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Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to assess the long-term effect of breast conservation with breast intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for early-stage breast cancers.

Methods

Pub Med, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database were searched to identify relevant original published trails, and the references of eligible studies were manually screened. Randomized controlled trails reported in any language, comparing breast IMRT with conventional radiotherapy (RT) in patients with early-stage breast cancer were eligible for inclusion. Two investigators independently assessed the quality of included trials and extracted data. The RevMan 5.0 software was used for statistical analysis.

Results

Four trials involving 1440 patients were included. The results showed that in the IMRT group, the occurrence of acute moist dermatitis, the edema of the mammary gland and the occurrence of hyperpigmentation were lower than those of RT group, the pooled risk ratio value and 95% confidence interval were 0.28 (0.17–0.48), 0.03 (0.00–0.21) and 0.06 (0.02–0.15) respectively. The use of IMRT did not correlate with pain and quality of life, but the presence of moist desquamation did significantly correlate with pain and reduced quality of life.

Conclusion

The currently available evidence showed that IMRT significantly reduces the occurrence of moist acute dermatitis anywhere in the breast and alleviates the suffering of patients and improves the quality of life of patients. Future large-scale, high-quality, double-blind trials are needed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Xiupeng Ye, Yuqing Kang, Liyun Guo & Ruifeng Liu

  2. Radiology Oncology Centre, The Tumor Hospital of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Xiupeng Ye, Xiaohu Wang, Qiuning Zhang, Liyun Guo, Ruifeng Liu & Shifang Feng

  3. Evidence-based Medicine Centre of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Xiupeng Ye, Kehu Yang, Jinhui Tian, Xiaojun Li, Liyun Guo & Ruifeng Liu

  4. Graduate of Political and Law Institute of Ningxia University, Yinchuan, 750000, China

    Ling Su

  5. The No. 2 Hospital of Zhongwei, Yinchuan, 750000, China

    Qiang Wang

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  1. Xiupeng Ye
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  2. Ling Su
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Correspondence to Xiaohu Wang.

Additional information

Supported by a grant from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 096RJZA036).

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Ye, X., Su, L., Wang, X. et al. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy for breast cancer: a systematic review. Chin. -Ger. J. Clin. Oncol. 9, 708–713 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10330-010-0721-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10330-010-0721-3

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