New treatments

TECHNOLOGIES FOR PARTIAL BREAST IRRADIATION

Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT)

IORT is a type of partial radiotherapy of the breast offered to older women at initial stages of the disease. It is given during surgery, right after the lumpectomy, in a single dose of radiation directly to the area where the cancer used to be. On average, it adds a mere 30 minutes to the operation time but also eliminates the need for post-operatory radiotherapy.

Two large studies suggest that it can be as effective as whole-breast radiation treating women at early stages of the disease. However, disease recurrence is higher in those women treated with IORT

Brachytherapy

High-dose brachytherapy is the partial breast irradiation technique used in most treatment centers, after some excellent results were seen in some patients.

In this technique, radioactive seeds or agglomerates are planted next to the tumor inside the breast. This is generally used to increase in a specific place the effects of external radiation treatments.

Three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy (or 3D-CRT)

3D-CRT uses imaging techniques and 3D images production software to localize the tumor and identify its 3D shape. In this way, the beam(s) of radiation can be shaped for the tumor exact volume, taking into account both its geometry and the breast shape.

This minimizes the damage to neighboring healthy tissues, allowing the use of higher radiation dosages on the cancer. The treatments are also quicker, generally twice a day for only 5 days.

Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)

IMRT is an advanced type of conformal radiotherapy. Conformal radiotherapies shape the radiation beam(s) to target the exact (3D) volume of the tumor. IMRT on the top of this uses software that assures that the whole target gets the same dose of radiation.

The dose or intensity of the radiation beams are adjusted to prevent hot-spots (areas receiving higher dose of radiation due to the shape of the breast) to minimize side effects. IMRT is also used to curtail the amount of radiation on those organs in the vicinity of the treated area.