The size, grade, stage and type of your breast cancer, which operation and other treatments you have had and how many lymph nodes were affected will determine if you need radiotherapy and which area(s) require treatment.
Post-operative radiotherapy is given to reduce the risk of breast cancer cells recurring in the breast, chest wall or lymph node regions.
Most patients require post-operative radiotherapy to the remaining breast tissue following breast-conserving surgery (removal of the breast cancer and an area of normal tissue around it, also known as a ‘lumpectomy’).
Some patients who have had breast conserving surgery may be at higher risk of the cancer returning in the breast, for example:
- Younger patients with larger tumours
- Patients where only a narrow rim of normal tissue was taken around the cancer (also known as ‘close margins’)
- Patients who required pre-operative chemotherapy.
These patients require an extra ‘boost’ dose to the area where the original tumour developed.
Following a mastectomy (removal of the whole breast) radiotherapy to the scar and chest area may be considered if the tumour:
- Was large
- Was deep in the breast and close to the chest wall
- Had spread to some or all of the lymph nodes.
Sometimes the lymph nodes under the arm and / or in the lower neck might need radiotherapy, depending on the type of surgery and how many lymph nodes contained cancer cells.