A determining factor for the success of cancer treatment is how soon treatment is initiated. The possibility of completing radiotherapy during the surgery for breast cancer and in one session only now allows women to benefit from this treatment prematurely.
For the first time south of Lisbon, the HPA Health Group began this new approach this week. Intraoperative radiation treatment (IORT) is considered one of the most innovative techniques for treating this disease and was carried out on Wednesday (October 29) for the first time on a 73-year-old patient, who came purposely from Mozambique to undergo the procedure and who was discharged the next day.
Standard radiation therapy involves daily sessions of this treatment for a period of six weeks. With IORT a similar dose of radiation can be delivered in a single treatment session, while at the same time preserving healthy tissue, reducing side effects and time spent travelling back and forth for radiation treatments.
IORT delivers a concentrated dose of radiation to a tumour site immediately after the removal of a tumour, destroying the microscopic tumour cells that may be left behind. Traditional radiation therapy requires a recovery period after surgery, which leaves microscopic tumour cells in the body for longer periods, before radiation treatment can begin.
Precise doses of radiation can also be applied while shielding healthy tissue, such as skin. This allows a higher radiation dose to be delivered to the tumour bed, while sparing normal surrounding tissue.
This surgical procedure follows international protocols of surgery for breast cancer and is the result of several years of research and information exchange between United States and Europe.
“By initiating this technique at the Hospital Particular in Alvor and also in Gambelas (Faro), the HPA Health Group demonstrates not only its commitment to technological innovation but, most of all, its concern in participating in all the possibilities that could effectively improve the quality of life of women with breast cancer,” said the HPA Health Group in a press release.
“This treatment brings us all new hope for the prevention and eradication for the disease.”
