New radiation therapy may improve breast cancer survival rates
4 October 2005
Sunnyvale, Calif., USA. Intraoperative Radiation Treatment (IORT) is a
new radiation therapy that may improve the local control of breast cancer
significantly. It can preserve the breast and may also reduce the spread of
the disease.
IORT is the direct application of radiation to the tumour or tumour bed
while a patient is undergoing surgery for breast cancer. It starts
therapy at the time of surgery when residual tumour cells are most active
and can improve survival rates.
Developed by Intraop Medical Corporation, the Mobetron(R) is an
FDA-approved innovative machine that delivers intraoperative radiation
therapy in a regular OR. IORT is believed to be an effective treatment to
improve cancer survival rates because a single two-minute treatment can
often eliminate several weeks of conventional pre- or post-operative
external beam radiation therapy.
Experts at Intraop devised the first mobile device for delivering
radiation in the operating room without the necessity of adding extensive
radiation shielding.
"There is a typical wait of 4-6 weeks after lumpectomy before the
initiation of adjuvant radiation therapy. During this waiting period, there
is ample opportunity for the microscopic tumour cells that remain in the
breast cavity to reimplant and become viable or to disseminate elsewhere in
the body, resulting in metastases," said Don Goer, Chief Executive Officer
for Intraop Medical Corporation.
IORT is being used for breast cancer in Europe where over 2500 women have
been treated, as well as in the United States — The Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale
Arizona and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are two of four
U.S. medical centers that have initiated a breast cancer IORT program due in
part to the encouraging early results in Europe.
The Mobetron is FDA approved in the United States and has received the
equivalent foreign approvals.
To top |