Which statement accurately describes brachytherapy in breast cancer treatment?

• A. We will insert radioactive seeds through the catheters surgically placed in your breast to deliver high-dose radiation to the target area.
• B. External radiation will take up to four weeks to complete.
• C. Your right breast will be removed.
• D. There is no risk of infection.

Answer: (A)

Brachytherapy uses a radioactive source placed directly inside or very close to the treatment area, delivering a high dose to the target while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. In breast cancer, this often means catheters are placed in the breast near the tumor bed, and a radioactive source is inserted through these catheters to deliver the prescribed radiation to the target area. This approach explains why the statement about inserting radioactive seeds through surgically placed catheters to deliver high-dose radiation is accurate.

External radiation, by contrast, comes from a machine outside the body and typically requires several weeks of treatment, which is the reason the other statements don’t describe brachytherapy. Removing the breast is a mastectomy, not brachytherapy, and there is always some risk of infection with invasive catheters, so saying there is no risk isn’t correct.