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Having one of Northern California’s premier radiation oncology programs often makes it possible for John Muir Health to safely and effectively treat your breast cancer without having to resort to a mastectomy.
Modern radiation treatment often helps eliminate breast cancer with diminished side effects while preserving your breast.
After the removal of the lump through a minimally invasive surgical technique, you often will go through a brief session of radiation treatment to eliminate any remaining cancer cells.
Board certified Radiation Oncologists provide comprehensive care with state-of- the-art radiation techniques to breast cancer patients including:
Whole-Breast Radiation – Radiation therapy covering the whole breast over five weeks.
Accelerated Whole-Breast Radiation – Radiation therapy covering the whole breast over three weeks.
Respiratory Gating – Unique four dimensional planning and technology that guides radiation to limit exposure of the heart.
Intra-operative Radiation (IORT) – Radiation therapy is given to the area from which the tumor has been removed during surgery either as a boost or as another option to three to five weeks of daily use the Intra-beam device, the safety of which has been tested in a large international study. John Muir Health participates in the TARGIT-US trial which studies long term outcome of Intra-Operative Radiotherapy compared to three to five weeks of radiotherapy to the whole breast.
Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation – Radiation therapy given only to the part of the breast that had cancer over one week.
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) – An innovative technique that allows the radiologist to deliver a concentrated dose of radiation to the cancer site while reducing the amount of harmful radiation that reaches the surrounding normal tissues, reducing both short- and long-term side effects.
Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI) – Radiation is delivered to the tumor site twice a day for five days, sparing normal breast tissue. This technique is available to a select group of patients based on specific prognostic indicators.
Brachytherapy HDR – John Muir Health is participating in a national clinical trial to see if this form of radiation treatment, which temporarily places a high dose of radiation directly to the cancer location via a catheter, is as effective as traditional radiation treatments. The advantage of this form of treatment is it reduces the number of radiation treatments you need to undergo. Speak to your physician to see if participating in this trial makes sense for you.
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Learn about how we treat breast cancer with chemo-, bio-, and hormonal therapy