What is the IMPORT trial for breast cancer?

There are two trials, IMPORT High and IMPORT Low. They are both looking at radiotherapy after surgery for early breast cancer. There is information on this page about

Radiotherapy for breast cancer
Radiotherapy side effects
IMPORT Low
IMPORT High
More information about the import trials

Breast cancer is often treated with breast conserving surgery followed by radiotherapy. Radiotherapy after surgery (adjuvant radiotherapy) helps to stop the cancer coming back in the breast area.

Standard radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery treats the whole breast. This means that treatment affects healthy tissue, as well as the area where the breast cancer used to be. Some of the healthy tissue is breast tissue, but it can also include the ribs and lung, and, if the cancer is in the left breast, the heart.

Very few cancers come back after surgery and radiotherapy treatment. But most of those that do, come back near the area where the original lump was removed. Doctors think that they can treat a smaller part of the breast and still stop the cancer coming back.

As with all treatments, radiotherapy for breast cancer has side effects. Some women get long term side effects that affects their quality of life. These include hardening of the breast tissue and swelling of the arm or chest area (lymphoedema). A very small number of women get more serious long term side effects such as breathlessness caused by changes to their lung tissue (radiation fibrosis).

Doctors hope that if they give radiotherapy to a smaller area of the breast they will reduce side effects, but still stop the cancer coming back.

The radiotherapy used in these trials is a type of conformal radiotherapy called intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). It means that the radiation beams are shaped more accurately to fit the area that needs to be treated. It can also change the strength of the radiotherapy dose to give different doses to different areas of the breast.

IMPORT Low is a trial looking at radiotherapy after surgery for breast cancer in women with a below average risk of the cancer coming back (recurring). The trial has now closed and women who took part are being monitored. We are waiting for the results.

Women in the trial

Had surgery for breast cancer, and the cancer was 2cm or less
Had breast cancer that had not spread to the lymph nodes or any other part of the body (metastasised)
Are at least 50 years old

The trial was randomised. It recruited 2,100 women in the UK into 3 groups. The people taking part were put into treatment groups by a computer.

Group 1 had standard radiotherapy to the whole breast
Group 2 had standard radiotherapy to the area of the breast where the lump used to be. And a lower dose of radiotherapy to the rest of the breast at the same time.
Group 3 had standard radiotherapy to the area of the breast where the lump used to be. But no radiotherapy to the rest of the breast.

The women had radiotherapy every day, from Monday to Friday, for 3 weeks as an outpatient.

IMPORT High is looking at radiotherapy after surgery for breast cancer in women with an average or above average risk of the cancer coming back (recurring).

It is recruiting 840 women in the UK into 3 groups

Group 1 has standard radiotherapy of 15 daily doses of radiotherapy to the whole breast and 8 doses of radiotherapy to the area of the breast where the tumour was
Group 2 has a boost dose of radiotherapy to the area of the breast where the lump used to be. At the same time a medium dose of radiotherapy is given to the area around this, and a low dose to the rest of the breast. The treatment takes 3 weeks.
Group 3 has a similar treatment to group 2, but the boost dose is a bit higher.

You can find more information about the IMPORT trials on our clinical trials database by typing ‘import’ into the free text search box.

If, after reading the information on our database, you are interested in taking part in the IMPORT high trial, you can take a copy of the information to your own specialist to talk about it. If the trial is suitable for you, your doctor can refer you to the doctors involved with the trial. Please note that you will need a medical referral to take part.

You can find detailed information about breast cancer and its treatment in the breast cancer section.