Its Oncology Platform, made up of a multidisciplinary team, applies intraoperative radiotherapy and immunotherapy, two effective techniques that act directly on the disease, shortening times and ensuring a higher quality of life.
Breast cancer is already the most diagnosed oncological disease in the world, with 2.3 million cases detected last year, surpassing lung cancer. The positive of this headline is the high survival of the breast tumor: with proper treatment and early diagnosis, it has a very good prognosis. It should be noted that breast cancer is not exclusive to the female sex, although it is the majority, since men also suffer from it, yes, they represent about 1% of total cases.
With the aim of sensitizing and raising awareness about the importance of undergoing a regular breast examination to detect any signs or abnormalities, every October 19 International Breast Cancer Day is celebrated. With this conference, the aim is to remind the population that, fundamentally, women (it is estimated that one in eight will have this tumor throughout their lives) have their breasts evaluated periodically.
The Quirónsalud Torrevieja Hospital has become a reference space in the treatment of this disease, thanks to its commitment to surround itself with the most qualified specialists and to be at the forefront of high-tech equipment. In this sense, it has a mobile electron accelerator, (Mobetron), with which to perform treatment of
IntraOperative Radiotherapy, (RIO), in the same operating room where the patient’s operation is being performed.
RIO, guaranteed results in breast cancer
IntraOperative Radiotherapy (IOR) is a high precision irradiation technique in which a single and high fraction of radiotherapy is administered to the tumor bed, during a surgical intervention, with the purpose of IOR treatments is to reduce the risk of relapse, increase local tumor control and therefore patient survival.
It has the advantage of direct visualization of the bed to be treated, avoiding unnecessary irradiation of the surrounding healthy tissues, and reducing possible side effects, explains Dr. Rosa María Cañón, Quirónsalud Torrevieja Radiotherapeutic Oncologist.
IRO has been used in the treatment of different malignant tumors: Sarcomas: retroperitoneal and soft tissue: limb, trunk and head and neck, Digestive Tumors: pancreatic carcinoma, rectum, Gynecological Tumors: (pelvic recurrences), Cancer of the Lung.
In the last two decades, there has been an important development applying RIO in the treatment of patients with breast cancer.
In patients with early breast cancer, IOR can be given during breast tumor surgery as a full dose of radiation therapy, eliminating all external radiation therapy sessions.
The ‘one step’ therapy, for patients with early breast cancer, who meet the appropriate criteria (defined and published in international guidelines), allows all local treatment to be performed in the same breast tumor surgery: removal of the tumor and lymph node sentinel, full-dose irradiation, and, if necessary, oncoplastic reconstruction. IOR only prolongs surgery for a few
30 minutes and eliminates external radiotherapy sessions.
In the case of patients with breast cancer, IOR provides great benefits in quality of life for patients: it reduces side effects (marks or skin or breast alterations from external radiation therapy), in cases where it is necessary it allows reconstruction immediate breast, avoids subsequent external irradiation, all of which allows the patient to resume her normal life in a much shorter period of time.
Mobetron, a great revolution
The Oncology Platform of the Quirónsalud Torrevieja hospital has a MOBETRON® mobile accelerator, (Unique in Spain), developed in the United States (Intraop Medical, California), installed in one of the operating rooms, with which IRO treatments are performed .
On
Hospital Quirónsalud Torrevieja, IOR treatments are administered
since 2004, within the multidisciplinary programs that include, in addition to surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy, external radiotherapy. From then to the present, we have treated tumors of different origin and location with RIO, with a large percentage and dedication to breast tumors, confirms Dr. Rosa Cañón.
The collaboration of all the professionals and teams involved is necessary, as well as radiation and physical oncologists, surgeons, gynecologists, traumatologists, anesthetists, pathologists, medical oncologists, nuclear physicians, technicians, nurses … for the indication and administration of this treatment.
The Department of Radiation Oncology, of the Oncology Platform, as well as the rest of the specialists mentioned and involved, have extensive experience in the indication and administration of IRO treatments in tumors where it is applied.
Immunotherapy
At Quirónsalud Torrevieja, IRO treatment is integrated into current multidisciplinary cancer treatment programs. In the hospital the
antitumor immunotherapy, whose objective is “to stimulate the immune mechanisms of the patient’s body, commonly known as’ defenses, so that they detect tumor cells as foreign and, later, manage to destroy them”, explains Dr. Manuel Sureda, an oncologist at Quirónsalud Torrevieja.
Regarding its application, the expert indicates that there are different lines in development: the administration of substances that stimulate the immune system such as interleukin-2 or interferon, the administration of monoclonal antibodies or vaccination against certain types of cancer.
Immunotherapy, precisely, plays a transcendental role in the treatment of breast cancer. “It works by means of attack mechanisms on cancer cells different from those already known, because its function is to cover aspects of the treatment that with the other modalities were not solved in a satisfactory way”, clarifies the doctor, highlighting that this technique has managed to improve the rates of survival and cure in tumors that were incurable before these treatments were available.
Big advantages
Another prominent aspect of immunotherapy is its ability to work in combination with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, either in conjunction or with other antitumor drugs.
Specifically, immunotherapy has important achievements depending on which breast tumors. In the case of HER2, «specific monoclonal antibodies have been used for years that have modified the prognosis and the cure rate in a very significant way, and are the object of investigation of other types of immunotherapy such as vaccines or toxin-transporting monoclonal antibodies », Says the oncologist at the Hospital Quirónsalud Torrevieja.
He states that in other aggressive tumors, known as triple negatives, there are promising results when monoclonal antibodies that unblock immunity are added to chemotherapy. Results have also been seen in tumors with a high rate of mutations or high expression of PD-L1, one of the brakes of immunity that can be unblocked.
Transcriptome, source of information
Oncologists resort to the transcriptomic study, which is very useful in any type of tumor, since it acts as an “essential manual to understand and carry out the instructions” for all the genes transcribed in a cell or tissue. In the case of breast tumors, the study contributes to “significantly reduce therapeutic futility and improve the contribution of treatment to increasing the time and quality of life of these patients,” says the specialist.
The Quirónsalud Torrevieja Hospital, recalls Sureda, has been conducting the transcriptomic study on a regular basis for a decade, with the purpose of “designing specific therapeutic strategies with different degrees of clinical benefit for the patient in up to 70% of the cases studied” , because it provides personalized information on relevant aspects for the treatment of tumors, such as resistance or sensitivity to chemotherapy or other types of antitumor drugs.
Request more information at the oncology service of the Quirónsalud Hospital in Torrevieja
.