Blast of radiation you get during op for breast cancer

A SINGLE blast of radiotherapy could spare thousands of breast cancer patients weeks of gruelling treatment, NHS officials said yesterday.

High-powered intrabeam radiotherapy, delivered during surgery while a patient is under anaesthetic, takes just 30 minutes.

It would save women with early- stage breast cancer up to six weeks of daily trips to hospital for lower- strength conventional radiotherapy.

The intrabeam method delivers radiation directly into the tissue, rather than the whole breast, at the same time as surgeons remove a tumour – avoiding follow-up treatments.

Officials at health watchdog Nice yesterday issued draft guidance recommending the technology for use on the NHS, saying it could make a major difference to quality of life for breast cancer patients.

But they stressed that doubts remain over whether the intrabeam approach is as effective as external radiotherapy at stopping the cancer returning.

Nice said the technique should be used only at the six NHS hospitals that already have the right machines, and that more research is needed to establish risks and benefits.

The watchdog’s Professor Carole Longson said: ‘This is a promising new way of providing radiotherapy but the evidence needs to develop and the committee therefore recommended that its use is carefully controlled and accompanied by gathering additional information on its clinical effectiveness.’

Hospitals with the machines include three in London, one in Essex, one in Cornwall and one in Scotland. Each device costs £ 435,000 to buy and £35,000 a year to maintain.

Around 75 per cent of the 54,000 women in Britain diagnosed with breast cancer each year have surgery to remove the tumour – and afterwards receive radiotherapy to ensure the cancer does not return.

Intrabeam is not suitable for all breast cancer types, and may not always be appropriate for women under 50.

But for those who can benefit, trials have reported it has fewer side effects than conventional radiotherapy, with less pain, swelling and change in breast appearance and texture.

This is because most of the radiation is absorbed by the internal tissue that had surrounded the tumour, rather than healthy tissue directly beneath the skin.

Dr Emma Pennery, of Breast Cancer Care, said: ‘Just travelling to hospital every day can be exhausting, and the potential side- effects can feel like the final straw … For many with early breast cancer, being offered just one dose of radiotherapy alongside their surgery will be a huge relief.’

Baroness Delyth Morgan, of Breast Cancer Now, added: ‘If shown to be as effective as standard treatments, intrabeam could offer certain patients an alternative option, reducing the doses they require and lessening the sideeffects they experience, which would be invaluable.’