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SINGAPORE: Doctors at the National University Hospital claim to have become the first in Southeast Asia to treat prostate, cervical and breast cancers using High-dose-rate (HDR) Brachytherapy.
Coupled with 3-D imaging using CT scans and MRIs, the result is a faster and safer option than conventional radiation therapy.
External beam radiotherapy is currently the conventional option for treating higher stage prostate cancer.
But by combining that with HDR Brachytherapy, total treatment time will be cut by nearly half, fom eight and a half weeks, to about five weeks.
In HDR Brachytherapy, tiny plastic tubes are first inserted into tumour.
They are then hooked up to a machine that delivers very intense and precise doses of radiation.
CT scans and MRIs allow doctors to map out the cancerous area clearly.
Using a CT scan, doctors will be able to locate the tumour and minimise damage to the surrounding tissue.
So for prostate cancer for example, doctors can decrease the high radiation doses to the bladder and rectum by about 90 per cent, while increasing the total dose to the prostate by 50 per cent.
3-D imaging also increases the accuracy in treating cervical cancer, where brachytherapy is already standard practice.
Associate Professor Jay Lu, Head of Radiation Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) said: "Using an analogy, when we're treating in the conventional way, we're kind of half blindfolded.
"We can see things, but the things are not very clear to us. Right now in a three-dimensional way, we can delineate not only the tumour but also the normal tissue".
The procedure can also be used to treat selected early stage breast cancers, or about four in 10 patients.
This is most effective for patients over 50 years of age, with tumours less than 3cm in size, which is completely removed during surgery and where cancerous cells have not spread to the lymph nodes.
Dr Keith Lim, a consultant with the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore said cancer recurrence is less than seven per cent, similar to conventional treatments.
"In breast brachytherapy, it's a bit of a paradigm shift because instead of treating the entire breast, we treat the tumour bit and the immediate adjacent area," Dr Lim said.
"We achieve this by temporarily placing a radiation source within this area at risk, and treating only that area with radiation.
"This results in a significantly less dose to the ribs, the lung, and to the surrounding breast tissue and overlying skin," he said.
But added safety comes with increased costs.
Dr Lim said breast brachytherapy, for example, can cost up to about S$13,000, compared to about S$7,000 for standard treatments.
-CNA/wk
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