New Advances in Breast Radiation Therapy

By Chris Hagness, Ph.D

eBx™ (electronic brachytherapy), a new breast cancer treatment, is now available close to home. This treatment is best for early stage invasive breast cancer (stage I) in post menopausal women (ages 60+), and is used to treat a lumpectomy site. This treatment may also be used in specific situations for some patients, determined on a case-by-case basis.

Used after lumpectomy, Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI) differs from External Radiation Therapy in two ways. First, it reduces the treatment area from the entire breast to the area of the breast immediately around the lumpectomy site. This is the part of the breast where most cancers are likely to recur. Second, it shortens the treatment time from 5-7 weeks to 5 days. Since the duration of treatment is shorter, radiation is delivered in fewer fractions at larger doses per fraction.

eBx™ is beneficial to the patient in many ways:

• More intense therapy to cancer sites with minimal radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue (like the heart and lungs).
• Designed to deliver nonradioactive, isotope-free radiation treatment in a minimally-shielded clinical setting under the supervision of a radiation oncologist.
• Delivers electronically generated radiation directly to tumor beds by the use of disposable, miniaturized x-ray radiation sources.
• Designed to mimic the dose rate and isodose curves of an Iridium-based system in the treatment site while reducing extraneous dose as compared to MammoSite. This means that medical physicists and radiation oncologists are able to implement currently used treatment protocols while switching from radioisotopes delivered by High Dose Rate (HDR) afterloader to electronic brachytherapy delivered by a Xoft Axxent Controller.
• Does not require replacement of radioactive sources used with Mammosite and avoids safety issues of handling and disposal of radioactive materials.

This new cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art treatment is available at Covenant Cancer Treatment Therapy department to patients in our community. Their radiation oncologists will be working closely with general surgeons throughout Northeast Iowa to ensure women who fit the criteria benefit from this new technology.

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