Electronic Brachytherapy a Viable Option for Early Stage Breast Cancer, According to Study Presented at ASCO Breast Cancer...( Researcher Says New Non-Isotope Bas...),Health

Researcher Says, New Non-Isotope Based Delivery System Has Potential to Help Solve Radiation Therapy Access and Treatment Disparities Reported at

ASCO Symposium

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Early clinical experience with the FDA cleared Axxent(R) Electronic Brachytherapy (eBx) System from Xoft demonstrates that the X-Ray-based, non-isotopic treatment is a viable option for adjuvant therapy for early-stage breast cancer. Initial data from this multi-center study was presented at the 2008 Breast Cancer Symposium here in Washington, DC. The phase IV study, "Early experience with an electronic brachytherapy technique for intracavitary accelerated partial breast irradiation," presented in poster discussion by Vivek Mehta, MD, Director, Center for Advanced Targeted Radiotherapies at Swedish Cancer Center in Seattle, was designed to evaluate the safety and device performance of electronic brachytherapy treatment using the Axxent System for early-stage breast cancer.

"While we will be monitoring these patients for the next five years, this data is very exciting as it confirms what we as investigators hoped it would from the start - that Electronic Brachytherapy is a safe and clinically promising alternative for accelerated partial breast irradiation," said Dr. Mehta, radiation oncology principal investigator for the study. "Because this method delivers therapy electronically, without the use of radioactive isotopes, it eliminates the need for the heavily-shielded vaults required by existing radiation therapy technologies. Radiation oncology centers now have a new solution for providing partial breast radiotherapy.

"Additionally, the study showed that patients were very satisfied with the treatment delivery and treatment course," added Dr. Mehta. "With electronic brachytherapy, unlike other forms of radiation therapy, the treatment team can stand behind a plexiglass shield but stay in the room with the patien
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