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Technology Helping Doctors Treat Breast Cancer With Precision

Doctor: IMRT More Precise Than Standard Radiation

POSTED: 1:56 p.m. EDT October 22, 2003

Doctors in Connecticut are using new technology to treat breast cancer with more precision and less invasion.

Dr. Daniel Fass, the director of radiation oncology at Greenwich Hospital's Bendheim Cancer Center, and his staff are using Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). It's a new way of pinpointing radiation to specific tumor sites.

Breast cancer patient Barbara Bologna was always a healthy, active woman until, to her surprise, she was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago.

"I walk, I work out, so for me to be stricken with this, it was a little difficult for me to kind of process that," Bologna said.

A lumpectomy removed the cancer, and Bologna is now undergoing radiation treatments.

"You get a little tired at times, but it has not been bad," Bologna said.

One reason for that could be because Bologna is undergoing IMRT.

"People are always concerned [about] the side effects of radiation. Radiation is a scary word for a lot of patients, but this can really alleviate patients' fears," Fass said.

Fass said IMRT is 95 percent effective in preventing tumors from recurring, and the delivery of radiation is more precise than standard radiation treatments. That means the amount of radiation that reaches underlying organs -- like the heart and lungs -- is limited and more breast tissue is spared harmful doses.

"The advantage with breast cancer is that it delivers a more homogenous dose, meaning the dose throughout the breast is more even, and that will end up with a better cosmetic result," Fass said.

Bologna is almost finished with her round of treatments and is looking forward to resuming her active lifestyle.

"If you catch it early, as in my case, it was only at stage one, and it is treatable, and here I am, almost finished with my radiation, and I really feel pretty good," Bologna said.

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