Intraoperative Radiation Therapy: The New Approach To Breast Cancer
The danger of cancer isn’t limited to just the severity of its symptoms but also the challenges associated with its treatment options. Not all approaches may be appropriate for all patients, for example, and the remaining courses of action may take time before leading to any results and can even or pose detrimental side effects. One tool available to doctors when taking aim against cancer cells is radiation therapy, which can take the form of radioactive pellets implanted in the body near cancer cells, known as brachytherapy, or, more commonly, with beams of radiation directed at the cancer cells targeted from outside of the body.
However, according to Dr. Emran Imami, although it has led to positive results for many patients, traditional radiation therapy can leave patients dealing with side effects like extreme fatigue and swollen, red areas on the skin and can drag on for five to seven weeks. While the downsides of radiation are impossible to ignore, that should in no way suggest it doesn’t have a place in cancer treatment. In fact, doctors and experts are constantly developing new practices that use radiation in innovative ways to improve the efficiency of cancer treatment and a patient’s comfort.
According to the Chicago Tribune, at the Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Illinois, doctors have developed an approach to treat cancer that combines surgery and radiation therapy as a way of helping patients recover more quickly, stay cancer-free, and feel confident. Called intraoperative radiation therapy, the technique has been used to successfully treat breast cancer and enables doctors to remove cancerous tissue from the breast and apply radiation directly to the area next to the cancer to help make sure that it’s gone for good. Since 2012, Dr. Barry Rosen and his team have performed this procedure nearly 150 times.
Intraoperative therapy is much faster than traditional radiation therapy — it takes minutes rather than weeks — and thus subjects patients to fewer, if any, side effects. This treatment also allows patients to work with a plastic surgeon almost immediately to help restore the look of the breast, helping to give them a sense of confidence in their appearance even after surgery.
Fewer than five percent of breast cancer undergo this treatment, although its advocates note that its popularity is increasing. And while potential long-term effects are still unknown, the idea of intraoperative radiation therapy demonstrates the creative solutions that doctors apply in order to better serve their patients.
