New cancer therapy takes just 5 days

Suzanne Henry became the first patient in Kalispell to receive a cutting-edge therapy for early stage breast cancer that reduces radiation treatment from seven weeks to five days.

She couldn't have been happier as she recently wrapped up the alternative therapy at the Radiation Oncology Cancer Center at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

"These guys are very skilled, gentle and kind," Henry said. "We're talking zero pain."

She finished her therapy with enough energy and health to take off with her husband for hobby gold prospecting in Arizona. It was quite a change from radiation therapy she had 10 years ago during her first bout with breast cancer.

"I don't expect side effects," she said.

Henry said that when she first read about partial breast irradiation, she had no idea that she would face another diagnosis of cancer in her other breast. But in December, an annual mammogram detected a tiny early stage tumor.

After her physician Dr. Loren Rourke surgically removed the tumor, Henry asked about the alternative radiation treatments.

"Dr. Rourke explained it very carefully," she said. "My husband and I talked it over many times."

She learned the particulars of how this therapy delivers a high-dose rate of low energy radiation directly to the tumor bed through a catheter implanted in the breast a few days before treatment. It mimics the penetration of longer therapy with less damage to healthy tissue and organs.

Henry was delighted to discover that Kalispell Regional Medical Center's cancer center had the equipment and had recently completed training in the treatment with Axxent equipment. She was ecstatic to learn that her cancer fit the guidelines for partial breast irradiation.

"For me, it was a gift that day," she said with a

'smile. "I went out and celebrated when they told me I could get it."

Along with her surgeon Rourke, Henry's treatment team included radiation oncologist Dr. Gordon Stille, Medical Radiation Physicist Mark Skwarchuk and Radiation Therapist Patrick Cooney.

Stille said that Henry's tumor qualified since it was "the earliest of the early stage" breast cancer that allowed a limited and focused area of treatment.

"That's what this technique is - just treating the tumor bed and leaving the rest untreated," he said.

According to Stille, researchers have studied partial breast irradiation for six or seven years and found it equal to treating the whole breast for early stage tumors like Henry's.

"The studies have gotten to the point that we feel comfortable doing this," he said.

Stille said treatment of breast and other cancers is getting better and better. He said cure rates were now so good that researchers now are investigating how to cut back dosages.

"That's happening with chemo and radiation," he said.

Stille said the cancer center invested in this equipment, software and training to give qualified patients the option of coming twice a day for five days. He said a shorter course was particularly important for those living a long distance from the Kalispell center.

"If they live 100 miles away, half the people who should get radiation don't do it," Stille said. "We hope by reducing the treatment time, we improve those statistics. Maybe the other half will get treatment."

The physician said that he knew of women who have opted for a mastectomy just to avoid the transportation issues of getting radiation required with a lumpectomy.

Cooney, Henry's radiation therapist, agreed.

"We've had people not get treated because of the price of gas," he said.

Stille and Cooney said a typical patient would have the balloon catheter implanted as an outpatient procedure by her surgeon on the Wednesday before the treatment week. A full CT scan follows on Friday to image the placement of the catheter and feed information into the treatment software.

About half of the catheter remains outside the patient but Henry said she wasn't uncomfortable wearing the tube-like catheter for a little over a week. She just tucked it back under her arm in a sports bra.

"It's not bothersome," she said. "You can go on with your daily activities."

On treatment days, Cooney and Skwarchuk set up the equipment before Henry arrived, which minimized the time she was required to spend at the cancer center. A partial scan provided a quality assurance that the catheter remained correctly placed.

"I think toward the end we were done in less than a half hour two times a day," Henry said.

Daily treatments are given six hours apart.

After getting her catheter hooked up to the Axxent Controller, Henry reclined and closed her eyes as the compact unit delivered the radiation. The controller size, comparable to ultrasound machines, contrasts sharply with large conventional radiation equipment fortified behind tons of concrete.

"This has an electronic source for radiation - a miniaturized X-ray tube," Skwarchuk said.

The Axxent system does not require radioactive isotopes, eliminating the need for heavy shielding and millions of dollars of expense. Northwest Healthcare Foundation invested about $250,000 for equipment, training and software to bring the treatment here.

Stille, Skwarchuk and Cooney envision expanding the equipment in the future for use in post-operative endometrial cancer. For now, the center limits the therapy to early stage, infiltrating ductile breast cancer tumors.

According to Stille, a large percentage, more than half, of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients have T-1 or early stage tumors treatable by this shorter course of radiation therapy.

"Mammograms have become so incredible," he said. "The tumors are found really small."

Stille took the opportunity to make the point about the life-saving potential of annual mammograms. His patient Henry, a retired Canyon Elementary School teacher, provides a case in point.

She discovered her recurrence of cancer by faithfully having a mammogram. Because the tumor was found at the earliest stage, she made a little history as the cancer center's first partial breast irradiation patient.

Henry said the only discomfort was a little pinching feeling when the catheter was removed. She said she felt good on Monday, the day after finishing radiation.

"This has been super," Henry said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.