February 27, 2008 - Hologic Inc. announced the publication of a study evaluating the Hologic MammoSite Radiation Therapy System (RTS), one-, two- and three-years after treatment.
The study by Frank A. Vicini, M.D., and others, published in the February 15, 2008, issue of Cancer, the peer-reviewed professional journal of the American Cancer Society, reports on treatment efficacy, cosmetic results and toxicities of patients enrolled in the American Society of Breast Surgeons MammoSite Breast Brachytherapy Registry Trial.
The American Society of Breast Surgeons MammoSite Registry includes a total of 1,440 patients with early stage breast cancer, who were undergoing breast-conserving therapy and were treated with MammoSite RTS between May 2002 and July 2004, said the company. Of the total, 87 percent of the patients had invasive breast cancer and 13 percent had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
An analysis of the overall registry population with a median follow-up of 30.1 months, showed a two-year actuarial rate of local or regional recurrence of 1.0 percent; good and/or excellent cosmetic results of 94 percent at 24 months and a 10.6 percent rate of symptomatic seromas.
The authors note that the MammoSite Radiation Therapy System is “logistically simpler, technically more reproducible, and patient ‘friendly’” than other interstitial brachytherapy devices, according to the article. The authors also said that “These results demonstrate that treatment efficacy, cosmesis, and toxicities 2-years and 3-years after treatment with APBI [Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation] using the MammoSite device in this registry trial are similar to those reported with other forms of APBI with similar follow-up.”
The MammoSite device is a balloon catheter that is inserted into the cavity created by a lumpectomy (the surgical removal of a breast tumor). MammoSite RTS reportedly delivers radiation from inside the lumpectomy cavity over a course of five days. The device targets radiation to the area where tumors are most likely to recur, while reducing exposure to healthy tissue. Since its introduction in 2002, more than 38,000 breast cancer patients have received partial breast irradiation utilizing the MammoSite RTS, said Hologic.
For more information: www.hologic.com