Target Motion Management in Breast Cancer Radiation Therapy: A Literature Review

Abstract

Over the last two decades, breast cancer (BC) remains the main cause of cancer deaths in women. To treat this type of cancer, radiation therapy (RT) is proved to be efficient. RT for BC is, however, challenged by intrafractional motion caused by respiration. The problem is more severe for left-sided BC due to a very close proximity the heart as an organ-at-risk. While particle therapy (PT) results in superior dose characteristics than conventional RT, due to the physics of particle interactions in the body, PT is more sensitive to target motion. This literature reviews current and state-of-the-art strategies for the management of interfractional target motion for BC treatment with an emphasis on PT, as a modern RT technique. The MRI guidance and FLASH-RT seem to be state-of-the-art approaches to deal with 4D RT for BC.