Intraoperative Radiotherapy eliminates external radiotherapy sessions

The one-step technique allows removal, irradiation and reconstruction of the breast in a single operation.

Thanks to intraoperative radiotherapy (IOR) applied to cancer treatment, cancer patients can reduce or eliminate external irradiation sessions. This procedure, which is called one-step therapy, has been available since 2004 at the Quirónsalud Torrevieja Hospital, one of the reference centers nationwide in cancer treatments.

ONE step treatment: one dose, one day

One step therapy, applied to early breast cancer, allows in a single surgical act the removal of the tumor, irradiation and oncoplastic reconstruction of the breast, eliminating external radiotherapy sessions. The irradiation procedure in the operating room lasts 30 minutes, which avoids the 25 or 30 external irradiation sessions of conventional treatments.

This unique technique allows the administration of a single dose of radiation under direct and palpable visual inspection of the tumor, allowing a more specific treatment, with greater homogeneity of the dose and facilitating immediate oncoplastic surgery. Women receive during the surgical procedure, and in a single session, the equivalent of several sessions of external radiation that last for a time.

IOR is a high precision technique in which a single and high fraction of radiotherapy is administered during surgery on the tumor bed, with the advantage of direct visualization of the area to be irradiated, avoiding unnecessary irradiation of the surrounding healthy tissues.

It has been used in the treatment of different malignant tumors, such as gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, rectal cancer, lung cancer, gynecological cancer, retroperitoneal sarcomas and limb, generally in programs that associate external irradiation, to increase local control of the illness. Although it has a special application in the treatment and cure of breast cancer, as long as it is indicated by the specialist.

Lower risk in transfer

The main drawback so far for its development had been the movement of the patient from the operating room to the treatment space, a problem that has been solved with the development of small electron accelerators that are in the same operating room, thus avoiding risks of the transfer, the times of the procedure are shortened and the quality of life of the patients is increased.

IRO can treat a wide variety of tumors

RIO with Mobetron allows the treatment of a wide variety of tumors with the help of a multidisciplinary team with the unique technology in Spain called Mobetron. This mobile electron accelerator, located in the operating room, allows treatment to be administered to different tissues, thicknesses and volumetric cavities, that is, to a great variety of tumors and locations, not only to patients with breast cancer. The treatment is carried out thanks to the collaboration with the rest of the departments involved (surgeons, anesthetists, gynecologists, pathologists, oncologists, doctors, etc.) that work coordinated in a multidisciplinary program.

Treatment for breast cancer

In the treatment of patients with breast cancer, it provides a great benefit in quality of life, since it shortens or eliminates the days of subsequent external irradiation, reduces side effects and, in cases of one-step, allows immediate breast reconstruction.

IOR treatment is integrated into current multidisciplinary cancer treatment programs, which aim to increase the cure success rate of patients.