Magnetic Resonance Imaging Appearances in the Postoperative Breast: The Clinical Target Volume–Tumor and Its Relationship to the Chest Wall

Tumor Bed Delineation for Partial Breast and Breast Boost Radiotherapy Planned in the Prone Position: What Does MRI Add to X-ray CT Localization of Titanium Clips Placed in the Excision Cavity Wall?

“…The resulting volume is somewhere between TB and CTV i.e. cavity plus part of the tissue-volume at risk of microscopic spread, and has been termed by one author as a post-operative complex (17). Adding 15mm to this volume would likely overestimate CTV.…”

“…Studies in postoperative sarcoma and prostate patients have pathologically correlated high signal-intensity on T2-weighted (T2W) images with seroma/ haematoma (13), heterogeneous signal change (hyperintense on T1-weighted (T1W) and hypointense on T2W) with organizing haematoma (14,15) and non-enhancing low signal on T1W with fibrosis (16). The appearances of post-operative cavities following wide-local excision of breast cancer have been described, using a low-field open MRI scanner, as heterogeneous ellipsoidal fluid-filled cavities with irregular borders (17).…”

Tumour bed delineation for partial breast/breast boost radiotherapy: What is the optimal number of implanted markers?

“…Full-thickness apposition of cavity walls is likely to decrease the incidence of seroma formation and to increase uncertainty over TB localization using CT-imaging alone. Furthermore, seroma alone may underestimate the true TB volume and misrepresent its shape (11,12).…”

The Additional Irradiation of the Tumor Bed "The Boost" in the Breast Cancer Conservative Treatment: What Techniques?

“…The Anglo-Saxon approach in the definition of the tumor bed is less difficult in this context because most of the other authors use the postoperative cavity [12]. The location of this surgical cavity is made by clips [13] or from the data of the preoperative MRI [14] or ultrasound [15]. Some authors proposed a standardized method for the location of the tumor bed [11].…”