Cosmetic outcome two and three years after intraoperative radiotherapy compared with external beam radiotherapy for early breast cancer: An objective assessment of patients from a randomized controlled trial.

570 Background: The international randomized TARGIT Trial, due to finish accrual in 2010, was designed to determine if there is equivalence between the novel technique of IORT (intraoperative radiotherapy with Intrabeam [Carl Zeiss, Germany]) and conventional external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in women with early breast cancer. The main outcome objective is risk of local relapse within the treated breast. We report here the two- and three-year data from a subprotocol assessing cosmesis in a subset of 105 women over 50 participating in the TARGIT Trial from one center (Perth, Australia). Methods: Frontal digital photographs from patients at one TARGIT center (Perth, Australia) were assessed, blind to treatment, using specialist software (BCCT.core 2.0, INESC Porto, Portugal) that produces a composite score (excellent, good, fair, poor) based on symmetry, color, and scar. Statistical advice was given by the Biostatistics Group, The Joint UCL, UCLH, & Royal Free Biomedical Research Unit. Results: 105 patients...