Consequences of Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy is a method of breast cancer treatment where the tumor is surgically removed then the area left by the removed tumor is directly radiated to kill any remaining cancer cells. This method of treatment is usually about 6 times faster than whole breast radiation. Because of this time frame, the percentage of people who opt for this treatment has risen from less than 1% to 13% in seven years.

Although this treatment has become more common, it does not mean that it is safer than whole breast radiation. Within a five year timeframe, about 2 times more women who had brachytherapy had to undergo a mastectomy than women who didn’t have that type of therapy. Aside from this, brachytherapy patients also had more infections and rib fractures due to the way the radiation was directly applied, and breast pain.

Although medicine is improving, newer methods can sometimes have more consequences than the methods they might be trying to replace. This leaves space for medicine to constantly improve upon itself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/health/research/study-questions-brachytherapy-a-breast-cancer-radiation-treatment.html?_r=1&ref=health