The Adoption of New Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Modalities Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Breast Cancer: Clinical Correlates and Cost Implications

IMRT and brachytherapy use increased substantially from 1998 to 2007; overall, radiation therapy costs increased by more than 50%. Radiation oncologists played an important role in treatment choice for both types of radiation therapy, whereas geographic region played a bigger role in the use of IMRT than brachytherapy.