Evidently, my post about a kit patients may use in the privacy of their homes one day to detect signs of breast cancer was only the start of a very promising trend that could speed up the safe treatment of this devastating disease.

Some background first...

A recent study of some 18,000 American women (older than age 64) diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer found that the longer patients wait to make a decision about radiation therapy -- delaying treatment by more than six weeks -- after breast-conserving surgery, the more likely the cancer would return. In fact, the risk of a second bout with breast cancer among patients who opted to wait for post-op radiation therapy jumped by an alarming 19 percent.

Knowing time is of the essence when it comes to treating breast cancer, would the decision to use radiation be made any easier if you knew you only had to do it once and while you were in the operating room? That neatly sums up intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), a cost-effective treatment option used widely and successfully in Europe to help cancer patients recover more quickly and face fewer side effects, while enjoying the very same outcomes or better.

Dr. Pablo Lavagnini, the director of radiation oncology for our sister company Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) and a longtime proponent of IORT, has been very instrumental in bringing this new treatment to America, jumping through numerous licensing and regulatory hoops in the process.

The reward for Dr. Lavagnini's efforts was almost too incredible to believe. After confirming her own breast cancer diagnosis. Dr. Lavagnini's sister, Asise, became the first patient in America to be treated with IORT in mid-March.

Check out the link below for more details and a fact sheet about IORT and a video interview with Dr. Lavagnini.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America March 17, 2010

BusinessWeek March 4, 2010

ScienceDaily March 3, 2010