A certain form of breast cancer therapy known as bracytherapy may be used too often and on women not suitable for the treatment, a new study reports. According to HealthDay News, brachytherapy involves the targeted radiation of a breast after a lumpectomy has been performed.
The study, performed by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, suggests that only a third of women treated with bracytherapy were actually suitable for the treatment. Many doctors have opted to go with bracytherapy as opposed to current whole breast radiation, however, because the therapy takes much less time. HealthDay also noted that bracytherapy is a relatively new form of radiation treatment, and guidelines as to who is eligible may be unclear or inaccurate.
Instead of the six week-treatment whole breast radiation requires, bracytherapy is completed in the course of a week. The directed radiation targets a specific area and is meant to eradicate all remaining cancer cells. However, the new study found that the radiation is generally not comprehensive enough to kill the remaining cancer cells and therefore poses a greater risk to patients.
Another recent study from the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found that women who had brachytherapy were twice as likely to go on to have a mastectomy as patients who had whole breast radiation.
Dr. Eric Horwitz of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia told HealthDay that bracytherapy is instead generally suitable for people with smaller, localized tumors.
“[It’s] not for everybody,” he said, but “it’s an excellent technique if used on the right patients.”
