"We can now offer personalized treatments"
Written by:In Spain about 25,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed annually, according to figures from the Spanish Association Against Cancer. There are treatments that allow radiation oncology cure and IMOR Institute is one of the centers of reference in this field. We spoke with Dr.. Benjamin Guix, IMOR director and professor of radiotherapy and physical medicine at the University of Barcelona, to explain to us the advances in cancer treatment of breast cancer.
1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer over their lifetime ...
Breast cancer is the most common tumor in women, there are many cases and this has allowed us to develop studies on what treatments benefit more each patient. We can now offer personalized treatments and radiotherapy adapt to each particular situation, depending on the characteristics of the patient and tumor.
What are these treatments?
One is the Hypofractionated radiation, reducing all treatment sessions radiation 16, ie, about three weeks and half. So far some 35 sessions were needed. We complement it with an overprint of the surgical bed, carried out with brachytherapy in one session a few hours.
What are the advantages?
The cure rate is very high, side effects are reduced, it is more comfortable for the patient because after each session can go home, improving their quality of life.
What other advanced treatments performed in IMOR?
In the case of postmenopausal women with small tumors up to 1 cm in diameter, and are very aggressive, we can perform a partial-breast irradiation. That is, after removal of the tumor, irradiate only the area of the scar with a small safety margin. This treatment is done in only five sessions.
What is the cure rate commenting?
In both treatments, the published results show that 95% of patients are healthy and have not suffered relapses of the disease to ten years or more have followed treatment.
IMOR also used in intraoperative radiotherapy ...
It is another breakthrough because it allows radiotherapy treatment at the same time of tumor removal operation. It is more accurate, because you radiate less healthy tissue away from the tumor bed neighbors. This technique is also used to treat small lung tumors or prostate cancer.
What technology is used?
We use IMRT (IMRT), which allows to apply higher doses of radiation in each fraction with fewer side effects because they radiate less healthy tissues.
Reduction of side effects is good news for patients ...
Yes, they have less fatigue and less skin irritation. In addition, long-term consequences are eliminated as fibrosis of the breast or breast asymmetry. These advances help patients live better and remember less than one day had cancer.