Latest News in Women's Health

Burn-Free Radiation

TORONTO (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- For breast cancer patients, radiation treatments are often an essential part of a complete recovery, killing any cancer cells left-over from surgery. For many women, though, radiation causes some unpleasant side effects. Now, women who undergo a new radiation technique are able to avoid some pain.

Dana Markoff is in constant motion. Not even a breast cancer diagnosis could break her stride, although at first, this mother of four was worried she would develop painful skin burns from radiation therapy.

"I was a little bit red; then it turned brown like a tan," Markoff says. Doctors say she did avoid some of the pain -- by having intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, instead of standard radiation.

With IMRT, radiologists can better control the beams' intensity. When a section of the breast has had enough radiation, the machine's focus gets tighter.

"By doing that, you can deliver the dose extremely evenly, and basically you can suppress any hot spots," Jean-Philippe Pignol, M.D., Ph.D., of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, tells Ivanhoe.

He says with traditional radiation, half of their patients experience painful skin burns. But in a new study, patients who had IMRT were three-times less likely to have severe skin reactions. They also had half the risk for burns anywhere on the breast.

"Breast IMRT not only reduces skin burn but reduces pain and improves quality of life," Dr. Pignol says. Doctors say IMRT therapy is widely available but is more expensive than traditional radiation therapy, so it's less likely to be covered by insurance. IMRT is under study for prostate and head and neck cancer.

For Markoff, IMRT meant more quality time coaching her daughter's softball team -- instead of being sidelined by cancer's side effects.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click here.

Latest News in Women's Health - Burn-Free Radiation