Marian knew something was wrong in early 2004 when she started experiencing bleeding following menopause. She immediately made an appointment with her doctor, who sent her to a specialist.

When she learned she had early stage endometrial cancer, Marian was shocked and upset, but also felt fortunate to have caught the cancer before it had spread.

Patsy’s body didn’t give her any warning signs. But she had been faithful about going for her annual mammogram. Although her results had always been fine before, this last mammogram was different. When doctors told her that she had breast cancer, she chose an aggressive treatment approach in order to treat the disease and continue her life.

As part of their treatments, both women had surgery followed by radiation therapy at the Lancaster General Cancer Center. Patsy had MammoSite® Radiation Therapy and Marian had radiation therapy followed by high dose remote afterloading (HDR). Locally, the HDR technology is only available at the Lancaster General Cancer Center.

“At the Lancaster General Cancer Center, we are excited to be able to provide our patients with state-of-the-art cancer treatments,” says Jeffrey Eshleman, MD, a Radiation Oncologist at the center.

Radiation therapy is used alone or with surgery and/or chemotherapy to eliminate cancer and prevent its recurrence. With standard radiation therapy, doctors administer radiation externally to the entire target area using a few radiation beams. Advances in technology allow doctors to direct radiation more precisely. This means they can use higher amounts of radiation, resulting in higher chances of cure. These new technologies also reduce the amount of healthy tissue that is radiated in the radiation beam.

Elizabeth Horenkamp, MD, an oncologist with Hematology/Oncology Physicians of Lancaster (a Lancaster General Medical Group practice), says that these radiation therapies are showing promising results, but she cautions women against thinking these treatment approaches are for everyone. Doctors consider the location and stage of the cancer, as well as a woman’s overall health, when determining if they should treat the cancer with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or medications—or a combination of those options.

“We’ve had a major shift in treating patients with cancer because we’re able to find cancers at earlier stages,” says Dr. Horenkamp. “With everything we do, we look at the risk versus the benefit ratio to determine if a course of treatment will benefit a patient.”

Daleela Jarowenko, MD, a surgeon with Lancaster Surgical Group, says the improvements in diagnosis have also contributed to advances in surgeries and radiation.

“Radiation has allowed us to conserve more and more breast tissue,” Dr. Jarowenko says. “Essentially, MammoSite is to radiation therapy what lumpectomy was to mastectomy.”

Just as lumpectomy has made it possible for surgeons to remove only the portion of the breast with the tumor—instead of the entire breast—with MammoSite, doctors can target radiation to the section of the breast most at risk for a recurrence of tumors.

Although MammoSite offers tremendous hope and potential, as with any treatment, it is not for everyone. To be a candidate, patients must be older than 50 years of age. The size and location of the tumor are also factors.

Radiation Advances at the Cancer Center
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT): uses high energy x-ray accelerators to deliver precise radiation to a cancerous tumor. IMRT uses sophisticated treatment-planning computers and computer-controlled radiation treatment machines to conform the radiation beams to the exact size, shape and location of the tumor. IMRT can be used to treat several types of cancers, including gynecological, breast, prostate, lung, head and neck cancers.

MammoSite: also uses high doses of radiation to treat cancer. By inserting a single catheter into the breast post-operatively, doctors can deliver high doses of radiation directly to where the tumor was removed. Because a much smaller amount of tissue is irradiated, a woman’s breast is spared some of the potential side effects of radiation, such as skin changes, stiffening and tenderness. In addition to the proven clinical outcomes, treatment time can be safely reduced from six weeks to five days.

HDR brachytherapy: this technology is used for treating gynecologic cancer and breast cancer (with the MammoSite catheter). It allows doctors to deliver very high doses of radiation using applicators and catheters placed inside the body. The radioactive source adminsters radiation to a specific area and reduces exposure to otherwise healthy tissue.

Because some of these therapies are relatively new, coverage varies by insurer. Please check with your insurer to determine what your policy allows. For more information about the Lancaster General Cancer Center, call 544-3113.

• Learn more about IMRT technology