Breakthrough breast cancer treatment 'reduces mastectomies'
Although more than 80 per cent of the women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK will go on to defeat the condition, many are left with the physical scars of a mastectomy.
However, new research may pave the way for a treatment which eliminates the need for breast removal, it has been claimed.
According to a study carried out at Oklahoma University (OU) in the US, a new form of heat treatment combined with chemotherapy can kill large tumours which would otherwise require surgery.
The team, led by Dr William Dooley, says that clinical trials later this year will determine the efficacy of the dual therapy and whether it can help to reduce the need for mastectomies.
In the study, which is published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, the experts claim that they not only killed large cancer tumours, but also reduced the need for mastectomies by almost 90 per cent.
"This therapy is a major advancement for women with later stage breast cancer. Right now, most patients with large tumours lose their breast. With this treatment along with chemotherapy, we were able to kill the cancer and save the breast tissue," said Dr Dooley, a researcher at the OU Cancer Institute and the director of surgical oncology at OU Medicine.
According to the expert, the machine which administers the therapy uses a modified version of the microwave technology and the treatment itself is called focused microwave thermotherapy.
Dr Dooley said that it is possible to use the treatment on any organ which can be held "relatively still" and that the upcoming clinical trials will be used to test its effect on tumours between 1.5 inches and 5 inches in size.
Posted by James McCann
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