By Mandy Bourgeois | Published Sunday, February 22, 2009
When Linda Hughes of Boyd was diagnosed with breast cancer, she expected the same treatments she had heard about over the years - painful surgeries and months of radiation and chemotherapy. But looking back on her experience with breast cancer, she can almost call it easy.
After having a lumpectomy, Hughes opted for a five-day radiation treatment rather than the traditional seven-week treatment.
"When I was diagnosed, I just wanted to get everything over with as soon as possible," Hughes said. "It was a relief to know that my treatment was going to be quick."
Hughes, as a patient of Dr. Kerri Perry in Denton, is one of many of Perry's patients to choose the five-day treatment available through the use of a strut-adjusted volume implant, or SAVI.
Hughes first noticed a lump in her left breast in early 2008. It had been 10 years since her last mammogram. She had a mammogram in July - a sonogram and MRI followed, and she was diagnosed with a malignant tumor July 24. She had stage I breast cancer.
"I was very upset," Hughes said. "It really didn't hit me until I went to the Cancer Care Center at University of Texas Southwestern, then it hit that it really was me."
After her diagnosis, Hughes was given a list of doctors to contact for treatment. One name on the list immediately stood out from the others - Dr. Kerri Perry in Denton. A friend of Hughes' had gone to Perry for treatment of her breast cancer.
Perry performed a lumpectomy to remove the tumor from Hughes' breast, then discussed further treatment options with Hughes. Hughes' met the requirements for SAVI - her tumor was less than 2 centimeters, there was no cancer in the lymph nodes. Hughes could either have five days of radiation with the SAVI or seven weeks of traditional radiation.
"I made my decision right then," Hughes said, saying it wasn't difficult to decide on the time-saving option.
The SAVI is an expandable bundle of catheters that is inserted into the lumpectomy cavity. Once inserted, the device is expanded to fill the cavity. A portion of the device is located outside of the breast and is connected to a machine that delivers radiation. The treatment can be individualized so that different portions of the cavity receive varying amounts of radiation.
"There are a couple of benefits (to using the SAVI)," Perry said. "One, it only lasts five days and two, it doesn't effect all of your breast tissue."
Perry implants the device a week before treatments begin so that the SAVI can be molded to fit the cavity and to develop a treatment plan. Patients are scheduled for twice daily treatments Monday through Friday, with each treatment lasting about 20 minutes. The daily treatments must be taken six hours apart.
While the SAVI recently debuted as the latest device in breast cancer treatment, five-day treatments have been around since 2003 when the first mammosites, or balloons, came out. While the balloons are more comfortable, the SAVI's ability to supply different amounts of radiation to different portions of the breast decreases the amount of scar tissue formed during treatment, Perry said.
Of Perry's patients, about 40 percent qualify for the treatment.
"I probably see a couple of hundred new breast cancers a year," Perry said. "I probably put in 80 (SAVI) last year. I only had two patients last year who qualified but didn't take it."
For Hughes, time was a major factor in her decision. After losing her son, Daniel, in a car accident several years ago, Hughes and her family, husband Glenn, daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Ben Crawford, and grandchildren, Martin, Will and Sarah, have a different outlook on time.
"After Daniel died, we knew we had to make good use of the time we had left," she said. "We don't' worry about the little things anymore. We want to enjoy our family and friends."
Hughes was able to drive back and forth from Boyd during her treatments, allowing some normalcy during the week. While the device was somewhat uncomfortable, Hughes said she would choose the treatment again.
"There was a little drainage, which was unpleasant, but I thought I could deal with anything for five days," she said.
Hughes did not need chemotherapy treatment but takes an anti-estrogen medication every day.
When Perry suggests the treatment to her patients, she is often surprised that they don't know there is a five-day treatment option.
"It's really surprising that people don't know about it. They're usually really excited about the five-day treatment," she said. "It's nice for the ladies who do have to do the chemo. They like to know that they don't have seven weeks of radiation facing them."
Hughes will see Perry twice a year for the next five years and have a mammogram on her left breast every six months. She will have a mammogram on her right breast annually.
Hughes says she's "lucky." Her cancer experience was not as difficult as she had imagined it would be and not as difficult as the roads others have faced in battling cancer.
"I even feel guilty when I hear of what other people have gone through. Looking back, it was almost easy," she said. "My family and friends have been great. I think I would have had to rely on them more (without the five-day treatment). I've been lucky all the way around."
