Shortened treatment helps rural Missouri breast-cancer patients

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Doctors say a new option for breast-cancer patients might help persuade more women, particularly in rural areas, to complete their radiation treatments.

CoxHealth radiation oncologist Ibrahim Abdalla said MammoSite radiation therapy is as safe and effective as traditional therapies -- and is more convenient. For women who undergo lumpectomies, the radiation treatment that follows the breast-conserving tumor removal is condensed -- from six to seven weeks of daily radiation to two treatments a day for five days.

Under the treatment, radioactive pellets are inserted into a balloon that fills the tumor area.

Abdalla's first two patients were from Kimberling City and Branson.

"I discussed both options, and for those ladies it was a no-brainer. They just jumped all over it," said Abdalla, part of the CoxHealth team that offers the therapy.

CoxHealth has treated about five patients so far, with three more in line.

Abdalla hopes the convenience of MammoSite will lead more patients, especially in rural southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas, to return for post-surgery radiation treatments, which are meant to destroy any undetected remaining cancerous cells around the tumor's edges.

"That has been an issue for some ladies choosing lumpectomy, because commuting every day for six and a half weeks is problematic for ladies who live 50 to 60 miles from here," Abdalla said.

According to studies published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the farther a woman lives from her cancer treatment center, the less likely she is to seek post-surgery radiation treatments.

In some cases, women with early stage breast cancer who live farther away from a treatment center choose a mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed, rather than a lumpectomy "because they don't want to commute to a cancer center for seven and a half weeks," Abdalla said.

"Sometimes they live in West Plains, Branson or farther," said Dr. John Buckner. "Or they work and say, 'I can't come to Springfield Monday through Friday for six weeks, doc. You're just going to have to take the whole breast.'

Commuting was an issue for Karen Wilbanks, of Branson, who was diagnosed on July 1 with a small, early stage tumor in her left breast. Wilbanks, director of concessions for Remington and Grand Palace theaters, wanted a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy, but daily trips to Springfield for six or seven weeks would be expensive. Not only were gas prices soaring, but summer is her big season.

"It just made sense," Wilbanks said of MammoSite, which allowed her to have five days of treatment, twice a day between Aug. 9 and Aug. 16.

"The impact of this on women is tremendous," said Buckner, Wilbanks' Springfield surgeon, noting that one in nine to 10 women will develop breast cancer in their lives.

"Since sampling of lymph nodes came to be around 2000, this is the greatest thing to happen in breast-cancer treatment from the standpoint of improving outcomes of women with breast cancer," Buckner said.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com