WHAT IS PARTIAL BREAST IRRADIATION?
Partial breast irradiation or PBI is a new alternative to traditional external beam radiation for treating a woman’s breast cancer. Typically following a lumpectomy a woman would receive external beam radiation to her entire remaining breast tissue over the course of 6-7 weeks on a daily basis. PBI decreases the amount of normal breast tissue that is exposed to radiation and also decreases the duration of therapy to just 1 week. This is accomplished with an internal type of radiation (or brachytherapy) that utilizes a small radioactive source that is introduced into the lumpectomy cavity via a special catheter. This procedure can be performed with any one of three different devices that provide the radiation source a conduit to the lumpectomy cavity. Either a MammoSite, Contura or Savi device can be used since they all function as some form of catheter that occupies the lumpectomy space.This technology is more site specific, providing women with a viable alternative to external radiati
