Open Access Case report

Pacemaker and radiotherapy in breast cancer: is targeted intraoperative radiotherapy the answer in this setting?

Mohammed RS Keshtgar1*, David J Eaton2, Claire Reynolds2, Katharine Pigott2, Tim Davidson1, Benjamin Gauter-Fleckenstein3 and Frederik Wenz3

Author Affiliations

1 The Breast Unit, Academic Department of Surgery, Royal Free and University College Medical School, Pond Street, London, NW3 2QG, UK

2 Department of Radiotherapy, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK

3 Department of Radiation Oncology, University Medical Center Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

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Radiation Oncology 2012, 7:128 doi:10.1186/1748-717X-7-128

Published: 1 August 2012

Abstract

We present the case of an 83 year old woman with a cardiac pacemaker located close in distance to a subsequently diagnosed invasive ductal carcinoma of the left breast. Short range intraoperative radiotherapy was given following wide local excision and sentinel node biopsy. The challenges of using ionising radiation with pacemakers is also discussed.

Keywords:
Pacemaker; Safety; Targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT); INTRABEAM; Breast cancer