Stop Breast Cancer
From Coming Back

New Radiation Technique Has Fewer Side Effects, Excellent Outcome

If you or someone you love has breast cancer, you don’t just want it gone—you want to make sure it never comes back. A new radiation therapy planning technique developed at Caldwell Memorial Hospital shows promising evidence that it can help do just that. What’s more, patients treated with the technique have fewer side effects and a shorter treatment time than regular radiation treatment.

Many women who have tumors removed get radiation therapy after surgery. The new procedure, called SMART (solid modulated, accelerated radiation therapy), helps plan where the radiation will go and how much doctors will use.

Using CT images, doctors map out which areas are more or least at risk for regrowth. The radiation planning team of doctors, physicists and dosimetrists work together to decide which areas might require different treatment doses. Some parts of the breast may need high doses of radiation. Other areas are less at risk, so they only need preventative doses. This way, you only get radiation where you need it—and at the dose you need in that area.

The treatment is highly effective at preventing cancer regrowth. Researchers studied 30 women treated with SMART. In one year since treatment, not one of them has had a recurrence of breast cancer.

The women in the study also had fewer side effects. No patients developed breast swelling, which is usual after conventional radiation. Skin irritation—also common with radiation treatment—was minimal. And the 5-week treatment time was fi ve to seven days shorter than regular methods. In fact, 100 percent of subjects reported complete satisfaction one year after treatment.

The SMART procedure isn’t for everyone. Currently, it’s only used for women with early stage breast cancer and small tumors.