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A medical team at the McGill University Health Centre is reporting far fewer radiation side effects in breast-cancer patients using an experimental therapy that appears to produce the same clinical results as conventional radiotherapy.

The therapy is aimed at the five to 10 per cent of breast-cancer patients whose malignancy has not spread beyond the primary tumour site to the lymph nodes or other organs. In such cases, a woman undergoes a lumpectomy followed by four to six weeks of radiotherapy.

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But standard radiotherapy can produce skin burns to the breast, and if the tumour is on the left side, the heart and lung can also be exposed to some radiation.

The MUHC group, however, uses a highly targeted dose of radiation that’s delivered only once – and in just 30 minutes. Known as intraoperative radiation therapy, the doctors use a wand-like instrument called the Intrabeam to zap the surgical cavity immediately following the lumpectomy.