Press releases

Yale-New Haven Hospital news release
Release date: August 9, 2005
Media contact: Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493

Yale-New Haven is first Connecticut hospital to offer partial breast irradiation for early stage breast cancer treatment

Yale-New Haven Hospital is the first hospital in Connecticut to open enrollment onto a phase III trial to evaluate the role of accelerated partial breast irradiation (PBI) in the management of early stage breast cancer. PBI, one of the most recent and exciting new therapies being evaluated in early stage breast cancer treatment, allows the delivery of breast radiation therapy in 5 days instead of 6-7 weeks.

Yale-New Haven Hospital is taking part in a national clinical trial evaluating PBI in the treatment of women with the earliest stages of breast cancer — stage 0, stage 1 and stage 2. The trial randomizes people after standard tumor directed surgery (lumpectomy) to whole breast irradiation versus PBI. The role of radiation treatment after lumpectomy is to eradicate sub-clinical microscopic disease that remains in the breast.

Whole breast radiation has been historically well-tolerated and successful in reducing a patient's risk of breast cancer recurrence, but the disadvantages of the time commitment required as well as the potential radiation effects on normal tissue have led many women to instead choose radical surgery with removal of the entire involved breast.

Because the most likely site of breast cancer recurrence is near to its original site, national interest has arisen in the use of PBI, in which radiation treatment is focused only on the area in the breast where the cancer arose. PBI has now been tested for over 10 years in phase I/II trials and has thus far been found to be well-tolerated and apparently as effective as whole breast radiation in early stage breast cancer.

"This new therapy challenges the conventional theory that we have to treat the entire breast in order to deliver the most effective treatment for breast cancer," said Joanne Weidhaas, MD, attending physician in the department of therapeutic radiology, Yale-New Haven Hospital; assistant professor, Yale University School of Medicine; and a member of the Yale Cancer Center. "This phase III randomized trial will finally let us identify those patients for whom PBI is as efficacious as whole breast radiation. We hope that PBI will be enough to control breast cancer for many of these patients, because it will allow us to avoid radiation effects on normal tissues and should enable more women to choose breast conservation as a viable option for treatment of their cancer. Results from this trial could change the future of breast cancer management for this group of patients."

If PBI is found to be equivalent to whole breast radiation therapy in reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence, there are some potential advantages to PBI. The treatment time is reduced from 6-7 weeks to a 5 day period. Radiation is delivered for 10 to 15 minutes twice a day, in a shielded treatment room. Between and after treatment there are no radiation safety concerns and the patient can work and be with her family.

"Our hope is that we can safely and effectively condense conventional radiation, usually done over a 6-7 week span of treatment, into a 5-day treatment, allowing many women who might otherwise choose radical surgery over breast conservation to now have this treatment option." said Dr. Weidhaas.

For patients interested in making an appointment to learn more about this program, please call (203) 688-1861.

Reporters: For more information on this release, contact Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493.

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Last revised: July 19, 2005 (mv)

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