Health News - Consultants say new treatment method for Breast cancer could remove need for gruelling radiotherapy
Published: 10 June 2010
by TOM FOOT
A 10-year trial which started at University College London and the Royal Free hospitals could cut gruelling breast cancer treatment from six weeks to a single operation.
The trial, carried out by academics and consultants at UCLH and UCL, and in international centres across nine countries, has treated more than 2,000 women with targeted intra-operative radiotherapy (TARGIT).
The new approach means patients receive just one dose of radiation during surgery to remove breast cancer. A probe is inserted into the breast so that it can target the exact site of the cancer.
Josephine Ford, who lives in Bloomsbury, was successfully treated with TARGIT three months after being diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2008.
The 80-year-old said: “It simplified everything and made the process less traumatic. I felt that once the operation was done that was it and I would be up and running.
“It made life so much easier and meant that I didn’t have to come back to the radiotherapy department on a daily basis for five or six weeks.”
According to results published in the world-leading medical journal the Lancet, the new method is just as effective as conventional radiotherapy, which can mean more than 30 visits to hospital over five to six weeks.
The Lancet report says the changes could save the NHS £15million a year.
The trial was designed and led by UCLH oncologist Professor Jeffrey Tobias, former UCLH consultant surgeon, Professor Mike Baum, of UCL, and breast surgeon and UCLH oncologist Jayant Vaidya, who works at the University College, Royal Free and Whittington hospitals.
Professor Tobias said: “I think the reason why it works so well is because of the precision of the treatment. It eradicates the very highest risk area – the part of the breast from which the tumour was removed.
“It is given in a single dose via an intraoperative probe and the conventional surgery is extended by just 30-40 minutes while the patient is asleep under anaesthetic.”
Mohammed Keshtgar, consultant surgical oncologist at the Royal Free and one of the co-authors of the Lancet paper, has been involved in the trial for the past 10 years.
He said: “These early results are extremely encouraging and we believe this will revolutionise the treatment of breast cancer. It has fewer side-effects, is as effective as conventional radiotherapy and is far more convenient for the patient who has gone through the psychological and physical trauma of having surgery for breast cancer.”
The results of the trial were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago on June 7 by Professor Baum.
Mr Vaidya said: “The new treatment could mean that many more women could conserve their breasts. TARGIT saves time, money and breasts.”
Patients from 28 international centres, coordinated from the Trials Office in the Department of Surgery at UCL with support from Cancer Research UK, were treated using the same procedure and compared to others using the conventional method. Recurrence rates using the new form of treatment were no higher.
Professor Tobias added: “It means that we have now come up with a model of treatment which appears to be equally effective as the standard treatment, with lower toxicity and very much less trouble, discomfort and inconvenience for patients.
“Breast cancer is the commonest type of malignancy of women in the western world. The implications of this new form of treatment are potentially enormous.”