Breast Cancer

MammoSite®

Scott & White the only Central Texas hospital offering new MammoSite® technique

Women facing the fearful cosmetic consequences of breast cancer now have a new option available to them.

Scott & White is one of a handful of hospitals and the only one in Central Texas offering the MammoSite Radiation Therapy System, which, for some patients, allows them to keep the breast and still effectively treat the cancer.

Five-day treatment period

With the new treatment, women may avoid extensive amounts of radiation therapy even if they do not undergo breast removal. Using the MammoSite technique, the amount of radiation treatment that accompanies a traditional lumpectomy or tumor removal is dramatically reduced from six weeks to just five days.

The new procedure is also more localized compared to conventional radiation therapy, limiting the radiation therapy to the cells immediately surrounding the site of the tumor.

“The procedure is one of the most significant developments in breast cancer surgery this decade,” said Dr. Darlene Miltenburg, Scott & White’s lead surgeon for the MammoSite procedure.

Prior to the advent of the MammoSite procedure, women who declined breast removal surgery underwent six weeks of daily radiation therapy, Miltenburg said. For women who live long distances away or who work, that regimen is difficult to meet.

An article published in the April 2001 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported that treatment of breast cancer using accelerated localized radiation therapy through conventional brachytherapy – a procedure that uses a radioactive “seed” at the site of the tumor removal – had low local recurrence rates.

“I believe the future of breast cancer treatment is headed toward partial breast irradiation,” said Dr. Teresa Boyle, a radiation oncologist at Scott & White. “Receiving radiation therapy in five days versus six weeks is an incredible advantage and will remove barriers to treatment for working women, women who have to travel long distances for the therapy and for women with family to care for at home.”

During the lumpectomy procedure or shortly thereafter, the deflated MammoSite balloon is placed inside the cavity of the removed tumor. A tube connected to the balloon remains outside the breast. Once in place, the balloon is inflated with saline to fill the cavity. The balloon remains inflated for the entire time that the patient is receiving radiation therapy.

After the balloon is inflated, the catheter exit site is dressed, and the patient goes home. The patient returns to the hospital or clinic for treatment on an outpatient basis where a radioactive “seed” is inserted within the inflated balloon, beginning a five-day sequence of treatments. No source of radiation remains in the patient’s body between treatments or after the final procedure. When the therapy is concluded, the balloon is removed.

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