Hi everyone,
I started rads on Wed 19th Nov. I am having 25 sessions so I finish on xmas eve. After browsing the rads forum I have seen people mention boosters. Please can someone explain what these are, my onc hasn’t mentioned these to me so I am very confused,
Thanks in advance, Lisa x
Hi!
Not everyone has booster sessions after the rads sessions. In fact my onc said that if you are given the right number of normal sessions (in my case 25) you don’t need booster sessions afterwards. Some people have boosters to the whole breast after they have had the “normal” targetted ones to just a section of the breast. Some oncs think it prevents spread in case there are cells that have escaped, but if you have clear margins you don’t need the boosters. Hope that helps!
Hi,I had clear margins and still had 8 boosters after 25 normal.The 25 were to the whole breast,from two different angles, and the 8 boosters were targeted to where the tumor had been.I did have some DCIS aswell as IDC.Dont know if that made a difference.
love and best wishes Mellx
I had a mastectomy (having had neo adjuvant chemo) followed by 25 sessions of rads. The last 5 were boosters - i.e. a very different type of radiotherapy (not so deep), but targetted at the site of the tumour. If in doubt, ask your onc who will advise whether or not you need them - that’s what they are there for!!
I had clear margins and have to have 2 boosters after my 15 standard ones. Has anyone had boosters yet? What are they like. I had my third standard zap today fourth tomorrow!
I had 15 standard followed by 3 boosters. The boosters don’t feel any different from the standard when you’re having them. In my case they put a different attachment onto the machine first so as to target just the site of my WLE scar rather than the whole breast area - i.e. it was a much smaller target area than with the standard rads.
I was told that standard rads are photons but that boosters are electrons and work in a different way.
Best wishes
Anthi x