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Breast Cancer • Radiation Oncology
What do you do for patients who require radiation for breast cancer (either post-lumpectomy or post-mastectomy) but who have a pacemaker on the ipsilateral side?
Do you attempt to have the pacemaker moved? If the patient is non-dependent, would you ever treat with the pacemaker in field?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
A pacemaker is always a challenge when located in or nearby a radiation field. Typically, I would prefer to treat patients as I would normally treat them so as not to compromise care.
However, that may require moving the pacemaker to the contralateral side.
When treatment is ready to...
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Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Community Practice
I have treated some of these patients with APBI using multichannel applicator if they have suitable pathology.
For those not technically suitable for APBI, I have treated with tangential beam but skipped RT to the upper part of breast to keep pacemaker dose below threshold dose.
If the above is no...