ReviewCureus2025
Immunological and Clinical Impacts of Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy in Breast Cancer: A Narrative Review.
Review in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Breast cancer (BCa) is the second most diagnosed malignancy among women worldwide and is commonly treated with breast-conserving surgery (BCS) followed by radiotherapy (RT), such as targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT). TARGIT-IORT delivers a single high dose to the tumor bed during surgery, providing local control while minimizing exposure to the surrounding tissues. However, the clinical role of IORT has become highly contested. The adoption of ultrashort external beam schedules eliminates many of its practical advantages, and the 2024 ASTRO guideline no longer recommends IORT outside clinical trials or registries. This narrative review summarizes evidence on the immunological and biological modulation of the tumor microenvironment (TME) by TARGIT-IORT/IORT, highlighting effects on cytokine profiles and wound healing dynamics. Rather than proposing routine clinical use, the review frames IORT as a translational model to study perioperative immunomodulation in breast cancer. Analyses of surgical wound fluid, immune biomarkers, and microRNA (miR) expression indicate that TARGIT-IORT/IORT disrupts tumor-supportive wound healing and reshapes local immune signaling. Early trial data suggested non-inferior outcomes compared with external beam radiation, but other studies reported higher recurrence risks. These divergent results, together with the availability of FAST-Forward external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), have limited IORT's relevance for standard care. Variability in immune findings underscores the need for standardized biomarker assessment protocols and supports positioning IORT as a research platform rather than a clinical replacement. Future studies should evaluate immune-modulating strategies alongside TARGIT-IORT within prospective trials, refine perioperative biomarker profiling, and integrate these findings with broader immuno-oncology approaches. Although not guideline-endorsed for routine treatment, IORT remains valuable as a translational tool for investigating perioperative tumor-immune interactions in breast cancer.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.