Mammosite

pjd2250
pjd2250 Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
My mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully they caught it in the early stages. One of the treatment options offered was the Mammosite RTS. Is there anyone who was experienced this therapy and can provide some insight. Main concerns are:

1) Effectiveness of procedure in comparison to other forms of treatment
2) Side effects

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

Comments

  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    #2
    Sorry, not familiar with this.
    Call ACS.....1-800-acs2345....they are FANTASTIC!
    or e-mail them.

    Hugs, Kathi
  • inkblot
    inkblot Member Posts: 698 Member
    #3
    Hi there,

    I'd advise that your Mother meet with a radiation oncologist and find out exactly what all her options are as that will answer many of her questions. Beyond that, RESEARCH. Sometimes the docs fail to mention certain potential side effects and researching each rad method, in detail, will be very enlightening.

    Mammosite is a form of brachytherapy. Brachytherapy has been around for a long time and was commonly used for other cancers for a number of years. Regarding it's use in bc, there's a much better delivery method today than what was available just a few years ago. When I was dx'd in '01, the only form of brachytherapy available was by inserting these little straw-like things, from outside the breast, which were filled with the rad material. It was painful and known to cause scaring, so I didn't even pursue the idea beyond that point of information.

    A friend of mine had Mammosite...about a year ago, and she was so grateful for the alternative to the daily radiation grind. She had it for 5 days and was done. She said her doc told her that it's just as effective as the traditional radiation treatments, overall, and for her, it was very easy, as she had no problems/side effects with it.

    I don't believe it's an option for everyone, due to different types of bc, location in the breast, etc.. It's certainly a nice thought, I think, to avoid the daily commute required for external beam tx's for a month or more. Mammosite is becoming a more common option now. I think I'd have opted for it, with this new, improved delivery system, if it had been available at the time. I had external beam rads and my particular experience wasn't bad at all. As a starting point, you can learn more at: www.radiation.com/mammosite.htm

    Best wishes to your Mom and I'm so happy that her cancer was discovered early.

    Love, light and laughter,
    Ink
  • lindaanderson
    lindaanderson Member Posts: 4
    #4
    I had mammosite last fall. There were some problems. First, the tube insertion was done in the MD office and was very painful. Most of the time ,it is done in surgery. Second, after 3 days treatment twice a day, they found they had measured wrong and given the radiation at the wrong place. So then it had to be removed and I was treated with whole breast radiation.I was left with some very hard tissue and scarring from the radiation in my breast tissue, but if this procedure is done correctly, it would virtually eliminate the skin damage to the breast. My cancer was stage 2b and another radiologist (2nd opinion) said whole breast radiation was best for me anyway. If you do elect mammosite, be sure to go to a major medical center where it is commonly done. Ask questions about their experience in this, I did not and wish that I had.Linda A
  • deuschland
    deuschland Member Posts: 3
    #5
    I had the mammosite procedure just a little over 2 years ago. I was very fortunate, just like your mom I was diagnosed very early. I suffered very few side effects. I got tired easy and the outer portion of my breast appeared as though it had a sunburn. It was not painful though. I went 2 times a day for 5 days. With them checking to make sure the posistion of the device had not moved, getting the treatment and then the nurse putting a clean bandage and dressing on it took about an hour each time. The only thing that hurt was when they removed it, and even that was not really that bad. My radiation oncologist and my surgeon both stated that this was a much better way to go than the traditional radiaton. They advised me that since the device is implanted that it was able to feed the seeds exactly to the area that they wanted them to go to.

    Hope this helps. Good luck to your mom!!

    Ingrid
  • analem
    analem Member Posts: 1
    #6
    inkblot said:

    Hi there,

    I'd advise that your Mother meet with a radiation oncologist and find out exactly what all her options are as that will answer many of her questions. Beyond that, RESEARCH. Sometimes the docs fail to mention certain potential side effects and researching each rad method, in detail, will be very enlightening.

    Mammosite is a form of brachytherapy. Brachytherapy has been around for a long time and was commonly used for other cancers for a number of years. Regarding it's use in bc, there's a much better delivery method today than what was available just a few years ago. When I was dx'd in '01, the only form of brachytherapy available was by inserting these little straw-like things, from outside the breast, which were filled with the rad material. It was painful and known to cause scaring, so I didn't even pursue the idea beyond that point of information.

    A friend of mine had Mammosite...about a year ago, and she was so grateful for the alternative to the daily radiation grind. She had it for 5 days and was done. She said her doc told her that it's just as effective as the traditional radiation treatments, overall, and for her, it was very easy, as she had no problems/side effects with it.

    I don't believe it's an option for everyone, due to different types of bc, location in the breast, etc.. It's certainly a nice thought, I think, to avoid the daily commute required for external beam tx's for a month or more. Mammosite is becoming a more common option now. I think I'd have opted for it, with this new, improved delivery system, if it had been available at the time. I had external beam rads and my particular experience wasn't bad at all. As a starting point, you can learn more at: www.radiation.com/mammosite.htm

    Best wishes to your Mom and I'm so happy that her cancer was discovered early.

    Love, light and laughter,
    Ink

    Mammosite Therapy

    My partner had this treatment about 6 years ago, only to have breast cancer reoccur in the same breast.  Her oncologist suggested that the reoccurence may have been due to the mammosite treatment not covering enough of the area around the first cancer.  I wondered if anyone had this happen.

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