Dr. John Watkins and colleagues compared five-year overall survival and disease-free survival outcomes between women treated with the MammoSite device (Hologic, Bedford, MA) or with whole-breast radiotherapy.
Between January 2002 and September 2007, 369 women were identified who met criteria for inclusion: tumor size of more than 3.5 cm, more than three positive lymph nodes, and minimum follow-up of more than 18 months or any patient with recurrence or death at any time point. Of the total group, 221 women underwent whole-body radiotherapy and 149 women had MammoSite treatments.
Watkins found that the five-year overall survival rate between the two treatments were similar, as were disease-free survival rates. That led the team to conclude that the two therapies are comparable.
"Using five-year estimates, we have not seen a significant difference in disease control, patterns of failure, or survival between patients treated with MammoSite brachytherapy or whole-breast radiotherapy," they wrote. "Preliminary results are encouraging and suggest MammoSite brachytherapy is efficacious, though longer follow-up is needed."
