Upstate Cancer Center is now offering intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) for select patients with early-stage breast cancer. Breast intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) provides clinicians with the option to perform radiation therapy in the operating room at the time of surgery.
By delivering a complete, concentrated dose of radiation at the time of lumpectomy, this treatment offers select patients an innovative alternative to traditional external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) with valuable benefits including shorter treatment times, fewer side effects, reduced costs, added convenience and improved quality of life.
What is Breast IORT?
Breast IORT is an advanced, patient-friendly radiation treatment option. With IORT, a complete, concentrated dose of radiation is delivered in one treatment during surgery. Traditional external beam radiation therapy can involve daily radiation treatments for six to eight weeks. For some patients, IORT can reduce that to minutes, eliminating weeks of travel, disruption to your daily life, and emotional stress.
If you have been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, you may have the option of completing both cancer surgery and radiation treatment at the same time with targeted, intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT).
What are the benefits of IORT?
Studies of early-stage breast cancer treatment have shown that performing a lumpectomy by removing the cancerous tissue and a small rim of tissue surrounding it, plus radiation therapy, provides women the same survival outcomes as a total breast removal or mastectomy.
In recent years, significant advancements have been made in the detection and treatment of breast cancer. IORT offers patients a less-invasive, breast-conserving option with valuable benefits including:
How does IORT treat breast cancer?
ORT uses a miniaturized x-ray source to deliver a full course of targeted radiation from inside the body, directly within the tumor cavity where the cancer is most likely to recur, carefully destroying cancer cells and reducing the risk of damage to nearby healthy tissue including the heart, lungs, and ribs. This helps minimize potential side effects which are more common with whole breast irradiation.
A discussion with your surgeon about breast IORT, as well as other treatment options, is necessary to determine if you are a candidate.
What should I expect?
Radiation oncologists and surgeons work together to administer breast IORT is in just five simple steps:
Hidden ScarTM Breast Cancer Surgery is an advanced approach in which breast surgeons remove cancerous tissue through a single incision made in inconspicuous areas to minimize visible scarring. By utilizing this approach, surgeons are able to preserve a natural-looking breast by sparing the nipple, areola and surrounding tissue. The Hidden ScarTM approach may also ease the emotional impact of breast cancer surgery, in that patients have little to no visible reminder of the surgery, and experience a more natural looking breast reconstruction. Patients who undergo this approach are also at no higher risk of recurrence than patients who undergo any other type of technique.
Hidden ScarTM Breast Cancer Surgery may be appropriate for a wide range of breast cancer patients undergoing nipple sparing mastectomy or breast conserving (lumpectomy) procedures. Quali cation depends on a patient’s tumor size and location, breast shape and size, and your surgeon’s training. Ask your surgeon if you are candidate for one of the below surgical options.
With Hidden ScarTM I Still Feel Like Me.
Hidden ScarTM Nipple Sparing Mastectomy is an advanced surgical approach that removes the underlying breast tissue while preserving the nipple-areolar complex and breast skin.
The inframammary fold incision (the natural crease beneath the breast) is the preferred incision location for breast and plastic surgeons due to its ability to hide any scar. This safe approach can be utilized in patients seeking prophylactic mastectomy (prevention because of a strong family history or carriers of the BRCA gene), in women with DCIS (non-invasive cancer), or small tumors that do not lie directly beneath the nipple. These patients normally have relatively small to medium-sized breasts (A to C cups) without signi cant excess skin or ptosis (breast sagging).
Hidden ScarTM Breast Conserving Surgery or LumpectomyHidden ScarTM Breast Conserving Surgery or Lumpectomy is an advanced approach that removes the tumor along with a small portion of the surrounding healthy tissue (margin), while preserving the majority of the breast, through a single incision hidden in one of three places: - Inframammary fold (the natural crease beneath the breast) - Along the areola border - Axilla (armpit)
Hidden ScarTM Lumpectomy uses oncoplastic techniques to ll the void created at the site of tumor and margin removal, while leaving the patient with a more natural shape and contour of the breast.
You may be considered for a Hidden ScarTM Lumpectomy if the size of the cancer is small enough relative to the size of the breast, and if the cancer is con ned to one speci c area in the breast. The most important criteria for this approach is that the size of the tumor will allow for its complete removal with some margin of normal tissue all the way around the tumor.
Hidden ScarTM Surgical Results
Hidden ScarTM Clinical Incision
Hidden ScarTM Lumpectomy Clinical Incision
HOW TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT »
Get Directions
