Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation: History, Rationale, and Controversies -- Who is a Candidate for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation? -- Pathologic Anatomy of Early-Stage Breast Cancer and its Relevance to Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation: Defining the Target -- Physics of Partial Breast Irradiation: Coping with the New Requirements of the NSABP B39/RTOG 0413 Protocol -- The Radiobiology of Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation -- Surgical Consideration for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation -- The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Technique of Interstitial Brachytherapy -- The William Beaumont Hospital Technique of Interstitial Brachytherapy -- Brachytherapy Techniques: the University of Wisconsin/Arizona Approach -- The MammoSite Technique for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation -- 3D Conformal External Beam Technique -- Intraoperative Radiotherapy: a Precise Approach for Partial Breast Irradiation -- Quality Assurance for Breast Brachytherapy -- New and Novel Treatment Delivery Techniques for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation -- Overview of North American Trials -- An Overview of European Clinical Trials of Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation -- Normal Tissue Toxicity after Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation -- Future Directions: Phase III Cooperative Group Trials.

Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) is being rapidly introduced into the clinical management of early breast cancer. APBI, in fact, encompasses a number of different techniques and approaches that include brachytherapy, intraoperative, and external beam techniques. There is currently no single source that describes these techniques and their clinical implementation. This text will be a concise handbook designed to assist the clinician in the implementation of APBI. This will include a review of the principles that underlie APBI, a practical and detailed description of each technique for APBI, a review of current clinical results of APBI, and a review of the incidence and management of treatment related complications.