Study Shows Radiation Device May Customize Therapy, Enable Some to Avoid More Lengthy Treatment

A study of the first approximately 100 patients who have received partial breast irradiation with a small, whisk-like, expandable device inserted inside the breast has shown that after one year, the device is effective at sparing nearby healthy tissue from the effects of radiation. The device, called SAVI™, is aimed at providing customized radiation therapy while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue around the breast after a woman has received a lumpectomy for early stage cancer.

The findings, reported recently at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's 2008 Breast Cancer Symposium held in Washington, D.C., showed that nearly half of the women, because of their anatomy or the location of the tumor, would not have qualified for other such similar internal radiation therapy techniques and would have likely needed a much longer course of therapy.

The device is another option for women with early breast cancer who have received a lumpectomy to remove a cancer. Radiation specialists sometimes opt to give women internal radiation – a process called brachytherapy – with the goal of giving concentrated doses of radiation to areas of concern while avoiding healthy tissue such as the heart, lungs, ribs and skin.

source: Moores Cancer Center at University of California