The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has started offering intraoperative radiation therapy to patients this year, which has thus far proven convenient and effective for breast cancer patients.
Intraoperative radiation therapy is a form of radiation therapy that targets only the surgical cavity. This allows it to be done on the patient immediately after the surgery. As it is far more targeted than traditional radiation therapy, it is a much simpler procedure to do, and patients don't have to keep returning to the doctor over several weeks for radiation.
UIHC began offering the treatment to patients last month after the completion of a clinical trial done to see its effectiveness and if there were any potential dangers. The results of the trial on over 1,000 women were very good, so UIHC became the first place to start using it. This therapy is performed regularly in Europe, but has thus far been unheard of in the United States.
Intraoperative radiation therapy is a form of radiation therapy that targets only the surgical cavity. This allows it to be done on the patient immediately after the surgery. As it is far more targeted than traditional radiation therapy, it is a much simpler procedure to do, and patients don't have to keep returning to the doctor over several weeks for radiation.
UIHC began offering the treatment to patients last month after the completion of a clinical trial done to see its effectiveness and if there were any potential dangers. The results of the trial on over 1,000 women were very good, so UIHC became the first place to start using it. This therapy is performed regularly in Europe, but has thus far been unheard of in the United States.
According to the University of Iowa's daily online publication, IowaNow, the UIHC are the first in the state to be able to offer the treatment to breast cancer patients.
The therapy has been performed on 5 patients of UIHC thus far and so far, the patients have expressed more comfort and better results after this type of treatment instead of the traditional radiation therapy.
Unlike conventional radiation therapy, which has to be performed inside a concrete room that has to be installed permanently into a hospital and causes a lot of pain on the rest of the body, this radiation is done with a very small device and only targets the area of the surgery, where the cancer is located.
The actual surgical device is about the size of the lunchbox and very portable, so it can be done right in the operating room after the surgery has been completed. The patient doesn't have to return several times and feels much better after the completion of this form of radiation therapy.
The therapy has been performed on 5 patients of UIHC thus far and so far, the patients have expressed more comfort and better results after this type of treatment instead of the traditional radiation therapy.
Unlike conventional radiation therapy, which has to be performed inside a concrete room that has to be installed permanently into a hospital and causes a lot of pain on the rest of the body, this radiation is done with a very small device and only targets the area of the surgery, where the cancer is located.
The actual surgical device is about the size of the lunchbox and very portable, so it can be done right in the operating room after the surgery has been completed. The patient doesn't have to return several times and feels much better after the completion of this form of radiation therapy.
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