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Dr. Lisa Chaiken
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Is Radiation Improving? - Dr. Chaiken (VIDEO)

Dr. Chaiken shares if radiation therapy is improving and how these improvements are benefiting cancer patients.

Dr. Chaiken:
Radiation therapy has improved tremendously. I know when you hear about radiation in the media it’s usually not something very good or favorable, and that’s a more general stereotype that we have, but the radiation therapy that we give for cancer treatment and especially breast cancer is much different.

First of all, it’s in a very narrow range that we know is effective for treating tumors, and the way it’s done today, we have been able to take advantage of all this technology that’s available. So people previously had bad burns and had strange side effects because the radiation was aimed in a way that we didn’t know exactly where all of the dose was going. There were areas that got more dose, areas that got less, and now with the current machines and technology and using a CAT scan to set up patients to make sure that we know exactly what’s being treated and what we don’t want to treat and exclude from the treatment, we are able to get a very homogenous uniform dose of radiation, far fewer side effects, and really, the side effects are short-term during the treatment with very few if any long-term side effects.

We are also fortunate that breast cancer is one of the best studied tumors, and we now have clinical trials in Europe and the United States, Canada, that have 25 to even 40 year follow-up and so we know that the patient coming in for breast cancer treatment isn’t going to suffer from some horrible follow-up ten years down the line or fifteen years down the line, and that’s very reassuring, especially to younger patients.

So, the whole technique and the way of delivery now is a way that we minimize side effects and get the job done with very, very little toxicity.

So I’d like to give you an example of what’s new in technology and what we are privileged to have here at John Wayne Cancer Institute and Saint John’s Health Center.

Breast cancer has so many treatment options today, and we are privileged and very glad to be offered all of them. We have state-of-the-art external beam radiation therapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy when it is appropriate and necessary that we can really paint the dose and deliver the dose to the breast to surrounding lymph nodes when patients have more advanced disease so that we get a nice uniform delivery, and we treat all the areas at risk while sparing critical structures such as the patient’s heart and lung, even on left-sided breast tumors. So that’s very important.

We also, for patients with early stage disease, have a full implant program or what’s called brachytherapy, and we have the newest types of delivery including MammoSite® and SAVI™ device and Contura® and these are ways of actually implanting a small device, sometimes it’s a balloon, sometimes it’s several catheters, all-in-one device, into the lumpectomy cavity and having a radioactive seed that’s programmed to go into the device. It’s specially timed images, it’s specially timed positioned as well and to deliver a dose of radiation therapy, and instead of a traditional course of six or seven weeks of radiation, this can be done twice a day for five days and the patient’s done in a week.

Now this is not for all patients, but for patients that are eligible, it’s great that they can go through a much shorter and just as effective course of treatment, and the fact that it is over a shorter period of time gives a lot of patients the ability to not have the commitment of coming in for so many days. But again, in selective patients can have a short treatment that’s just as effective and not take as large of a chunk out of their already busy lives.

In some patients, this has made the difference between patients opting for a mastectomy not to commit to seven weeks of treatment but can still have breast conservation and just come in for the week treatment, especially if they are patients that come in from a distance or really can’t make the commute for other health reasons every day.

So, it’s great to have this option. For patients that aren’t eligible for the balloon, we have also experience in what we call hypofractionated regimens where we can give larger external doses of radiation over a shorter period of time based on the newest research and data as well.

The treatment is really designed to be unique and developed for the individual patient and their needs, and we are very pleased to have a full service department that offers the latest in all technology, from external beam to implants or brachytherapy.

About Dr. Lisa Chaiken, M.D.:
Dr. Lisa Chaiken joined Valley Radiotherapy Associates Medical Group in 2009 and is a board certified Radiation Oncologist practicing at Saint John's Medical Center. She has been in practice over 15 years in the Santa Monica Community. Dr. Chaiken received her undergraduate degree, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude, in History and Science from Harvard University. Her studies emphasized biological sciences, medical ethics, and historical factors influencing modern medicine. After receiving her medical degree from UCLA, she continued in the Department of Radiation Oncology, where she served as Chief Resident. After leaving UCLA, she still served as clinical faculty at the UCLA Breast Center for several years.

For More Information On Breast Cancer And Saint John's Health Center Visit http://www.stjohns.org/

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