title: Placement technique and the early complications of balloon breast brachytherapy: Magee-Womens Hospital experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Open (OT) and percutaneous closed (PCT) techniques have been described for placement of the MammoSite catheter to deliver accelerated partial breast brachytherapy. We report early complications of both techniques.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 125 patients underwent catheter placement for MammoSite high-dose rate brachytherapy, with 108 patients successfully completing treatment. The OT was used in 85 patients and PCT in 40 patients. The mean distance between the balloon surface and breast skin was 1.44 cm and 1.31 cm, respectively. Average skin dose was 278 cGy in the OT group and 295 cGy in the PCT group (P > 0.05). Average gross specimen size was 43.16 cm3 in the OT group and 62.19 cm3 in the PCT group. Median follow-up was 11 months for the OT group and 5 months for the PCT group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 17 cases, the catheter was subsequently removed without the patient completing treatment. Two of the patients in the OT group (3%) developed a delayed abscess. The overall incidence of persistent seroma (>6 months) was 20% with all occurring in the OT group, 30% of those patients. There were no acute skin toxicities higher than grade 2. The overall cosmesis is excellent or good in 95% of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite short follow-up and a small sample size in this study, it seems that the MammoSite brachytherapy was well tolerated by patients with early stage breast cancer when using either the OT or PCT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Magee-Womens Hospital, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. asoran@magee.edu
authors.forename: Atilla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soran
authors.forename: Turkkan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Evrensel
authors.forename: Sushil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beriwal
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mogus
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: Mujdat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balkan
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harlak
authors.forename: Marguerite A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bonaventura
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Falk
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D044584:Carcinoma, Ductal / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012086:Reoperation; D016896:Treatment Outcome