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Proton Therapy as a Radiation Option to Reduce Cardiac Toxicity in Breast Cancer
Rachel Jimenez, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, discusses an upcoming clinical trial examining the efficacy of proton therapy in treating breast cancer while reducing cardiac toxicity.
In reducing the weeks of radiation therapy patients receive, there may be an increased risk of cardiac toxicity. However, Dr Jimenez explains that proton therapy could potentially reduce that risk.
Transcript:
Hi, I'm Dr. Rachel Jimenez. I'm a radiation oncologist at Mass General Hospital and assistant professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School. I'm excited to be opening a new clinical trial that will be combining different types of technology, all in the interest of trying to improve the therapeutic ratio for our patients.
As we've seen over the last several years, there's been a push within breast radiotherapy to try to shorten the amount of time that patients have to spend receiving radiation. We've seen radiation treatments go from 6 weeks of treatment to 4 weeks of treatment, and now we're exploring the idea of 1 week of treatment for patients who require radiotherapy. But one of the ongoing concerns with patients who are receiving radiotherapy is that there may be an increased risk of cardiac toxicity, particularly for patients who have more locally advanced breast cancer or may need radiation treatment that's in proximity to the heart, so left-sided breast cancers.
This trial will be looking at a single week of radiation and comparing conventional radiation to a newer type of radiation called proton therapy. Proton therapy has the potential to reduce cardiac toxicity. We're interested in trying to recruit women who are motivated to participate in a clinical trial that may be able to explore ways to both shorten the duration of treatment, but also lessen the toxicity of the treatment itself.
