Breast cancer patients are moms, wives, and caretakers. They are teachers, nurses, physicians and heads of industry. Today, more than ever before, women are delicately balancing the various roles of their lives. A breast cancer diagnosis and the treatment that follows is yet another challenge that unfortunately many women need to accommodate in their already busy schedules. That’s why Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center offer technologies that provide expert care and streamline the process of treating breast cancer.
Jersey Shore and Ocean Medical Center now offer accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) for breast cancer treatment using the CONTURA ® Multi-Lumen Balloon (MLB) Catheter. This unique method of radiation treatment delivery involves the placement of a deflated balloon in the lumpectomy cavity post-surgery through a small incision. The balloon is then filled with saline and temporarily left in place for up to 10 days during treatment. Radiation treatment is administered “from the inside out,†traveling through the catheter, ensuring that only the tissue closest to the balloon is affected by radiation. Treatment is delivered two times a day, six hours apart, for five days. At the end of the treatment the balloon is deflated and gently removed.
“Traditionally, the standard of care after a lumpectomy has been whole breast radiation for 6-7 weeks. This time is greatly reduced using the Contura catheter, positively impacting our patients’ lives. And, the precision of the treatment means minimal effects on adjacent tissues, steering radiation away from the chest wall and muscles, as well as the heart and lungs,†says Douglas A. Miller, M.D., medical director of Radiation Oncology at Jersey Shore.