Newswise — December 13, 2013 – Neptune, NJ – Breast cancer patients are moms, wives, and caretakers. They are teachers, nurses, physicians and heads of industry. Today, more than ever before, women are delicately balancing the various roles of their lives. A breast cancer diagnosis and the treatment that follows is yet another challenge that unfortunately many women need to accommodate in their already busy schedules. That’s why Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center offer technologies that provide expert care and streamline the process of treating breast cancer.
Jersey Shore and Ocean Medical Center now offer accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) for breast cancer treatment using the CONTURA ® Multi-Lumen Balloon (MLB) Catheter. This unique method of radiation treatment delivery involves the placement of a deflated balloon in the lumpectomy cavity post-surgery through a small incision. The balloon is then filled with saline and temporarily left in place for up to 10 days during treatment. Radiation treatment is administered “from the inside out,” traveling through the catheter, ensuring that only the tissue closest to the balloon is affected by radiation. Treatment is delivered two times a day, six hours apart, for five days. At the end of the treatment the balloon is deflated and gently removed.
“Traditionally, the standard of care after a lumpectomy has been whole breast radiation for 6-7 weeks. This time is greatly reduced using the Contura catheter, positively impacting our patients’ lives. And, the precision of the treatment means minimal effects on adjacent tissues, steering radiation away from the chest wall and muscles, as well as the heart and lungs,” says Douglas A. Miller, M.D., medical director of Radiation Oncology at Jersey Shore.
Jersey Shore’s Faxitron system, also available at Riverview Medical Center, reduces breast biopsy and lumpectomy procedure times, and ultimately improves patient care. Point-of-care specimen radiography allows instant high-resolution digital images of breast biopsy and lumpectomy specimens directly in the operating room. Twenty minutes or more can be saved for the patient under anesthesia, and connectivity allows the surgeon and radiologist to view the image simultaneously.
“Faxitron allows real time breast specimen imaging in the operating room so that the surgeon can determine if the resection is adequate and if additional margins need to be obtained. This reduces operative time, while allowing the surgeon to remove additional margins at the time of the original surgery in order to avoid follow up surgeries to achieve negative breast margins. Achieving negative margins with initial surgery is our primary goal in order to avoid delays in starting adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy,” says Denise Johnson-Miller, M.D., FACS, medical director for Breast Surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
Building directly upon Meridian Cancer Care’s multidisciplinary approach towards treating cancer, both treatments reflect the dynamic, successful partnership between surgical and radiation oncologists working together to tailor the right treatment for the individual patient.
About Meridian HealthMeridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization in New Jersey, comprising Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, and Meridian Partner Companies that include home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, ambulatory care, ambulance services, and outpatient centers. Meridian Health has consistently been rated among the top performing health systems in New Jersey for clinical quality, is one of the FORTUNE “100 Best Companies to Work For”, and is the recipient of numerous state and national recognitions for patient care and nursing excellence. For more information, please visit www.MeridianHealth.com.
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