LAKELAND, FL -- Every three minutes in the United States, a woman hears the words, "You have breast cancer." We continue to take action against breast cancer with our partners at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland by looking at the latest in breast cancer treatments.
Marilyn Smith is putting on a brave face, preparing for yet another dose of radiation that will hopefully kill any remaining breast cancer left after surgery. But she's only getting five days of radiation as opposed to the standard five weeks, thanks to a relatively new treatment called Brachytherapy.
Doctor Sandra Sha is a radiation oncologist at Watson Clinic. She says, "Brachytherapy is simply a way of delivering radiation right to the location you are targeting. In the case of breast Brachytherapy, it's delivered using a balloon placed directly into the tumor bed or the area where the tumor used to be at."
The idea is to spare a patient's healthy tissue. Doctor Sha says there's another benefit. "I think women like the convenience of the five day treatment. There seems to be less skin irritation."
Marilyn Smith says, "There wasn't pain and I expected pain."
Smith was lucky she qualified for this treatment. Not all breast cancer patients do. Dr Sha says, "We reserve this type of treatment for women with smaller tumors."
Also, Dr. Sha says, women must have no lymph nodes involved and be 60 or older. "In general, younger women have more aggressive types of cancer and we try to stick with the old method to be more conservative."
Chemotherapy is still a standard treatment for breast cancer patients. While the drugs used are basically the same as they were ten years ago, a patient's ability to tolerate them has improved.
Doctor Fred Schreiber is a medical oncologist with Watson Clinic in Lakeland. "Clearly, clearly the nausea control abilities of this decade are much better compared to the 90's and 80's. Tremendously better. Most people don't get nauseated now."
While many breast cancer patients will still lose their hair, they may no longer lose a lot of weight and Doctor Schreiber says, "Our ability to fight infections due to low white blood cell count and weakened immune systems has diminished. Our antibiotics used to treat infections are much, much better than in previous decades."
For more information on breast cancer, please call the Watson Clinic Breast Healthline at 863-680-7555.
Health care professionals are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5 pm during October. You can ask questions about breast self exams, mammograms, and screening guidelines.
