Minimally Invasive Treatment for Breast Cancer Now Available

A minimally invasive radiation treatment for women with breast cancer is now being offered for the first time on the Westside at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica.

Saint John’s Radiation Oncology Department is offering a new radiation therapy system to select patients with breast cancer that minimizes radiation exposure and takes less time than whole breast irradiation.

Called the MammoSite® Radiation Therapy System (RTS), the treatment delivers radiation directly to the tissue surrounding the original tumor, minimizing radiation exposure to healthy tissue.

Treatment with MammoSite® RTS is delivered over a course of only five days, as compared to standard whole breast irradiation which typically extends over a six- to seven-week period. By delivering radiation directly to the breast tissue surrounding the original tumor, the MammoSite® RTS minimizes exposure to the rest of the breast, skin, ribs, lungs and heart, according to May Lin Tao, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Saint John’s Health Center.

Breast cancer is the leading cancer in women, and approximately three million women are currently living with breast cancer in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. Mammosite RTS is one of the latest new technologies for delivery of radiation therapy after a lumpectomy for women with favorable, early stage breast cancers.

“We’re pleased to be the first on the Westside to offer breast cancer patients the option of this new type of radiation treatment,” says Dr. Tao. “Although it is not appropriate for all breast cancer patients, MammoSite® provides patients with a highly localized treatment option that can be completed in five days rather than six weeks, while minimizing the risk of damage to healthy tissue.

"This may have particular appeal to women who meet the specific clinical criteria for this treatment and for whom a several week course of treatment may be overly burdensome.”

Drs. May Lin Tao and Robert Wollman of Saint John’s Department of Radiation Oncology, will screen breast cancer patients to determine if they are appropriate candidates for this new treatment.

The MammoSite® RTS is a balloon catheter that is placed inside the reast
cavity during a lumpectomy procedure or shortly thereafter. Once in place, the balloon is inflated with saline and remains inflated for the entire treatment period.

The patient is then seen in Saint John’s Radiation Oncology Department, where at the time of each treatment, the end of the balloon catheter is attached to a radiation machine. The machine delivers radiation from within the catheter directly to the tissue surrounding the original tumor, where cancer recurrences are most likely to occur.

Treatments are given twice-a-day for five days. Once the whole course of
radiation is finished, the catheter is easily removed. No source of radiation remains in the patient’s body between treatments or after the final procedure.

The MammoSite® RTS was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2002.

For more information about Saint John’s Radiation Oncology or other Saint John’s services, please call (310) 829-8990. For a physician referral or a second opinion, please call 1-888-ASK-SJHC or visit the website at www.stjohns.org.

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