ADENOCARCINOM CANCER / AIDS LYMPHOMA CANCER / BRAIN CANCER TUMOR / BREAST CANCER / SINUS SARCOMA CANCER
  INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCE TUMOR / PROSTATE CANCER TUMOR / TONSIL CANCER TUMOR / NECK CANCER TUMOR I
NECK CANCER TUMOR II / BREAST CANCER, HEAD and NECK TUMOR, DEEP TUMORS

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Case I                  Case II

Alternative cancer treatment, alternative breast cancer treatment, alternative prostate cancer treatment.

Valley Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, California

INTRODUCTION

    Inflammatory breast cancer is more aggressive than other types of breast cancer ; indeed, it is one of the most aggressive of all neoplasms.

    The best treatment for primary inflammatory breast cancer is multimodality, as described in several reports in the medical literature. These reports are quite consistent, with no recurrence in about a third of patients following chemotherapy, radiotherapy and mastectomy. Inflammatory chest wall recurrence of breast cancer is an even more devastating problem with essentially no possibility of control using chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. This problem occurs about 20-30% of treated patients, within 24 months of the initial treatment.

    We report on the 12 patients with inflammatory breast cancer, either with extensive primary or recurrent disease, treated over the past 15 years at Valley Cancer Institute using thermoradiotherapy. All of these patients had erythema and extensive chest wall disease upon presentation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

    Radiotherapy was delivered by linear accelerator, using bolused medial and lateral tangential fields. Several patients required additional fields for disease extending around to the back. A total 2-4 Gy in daily fractions of 80-150 cGy was delivered depending on previous radiation dose and time since previous radiotherapy. One patient received a full course of 5.6Gy.

    Hyperthermia was given within one hour of each radiation treatment. patients required at least two hyperthermia fields, usually three or four, with two fields treated daily on a rotating schedule. Most fields were treated by micro-wave (Celsion Corporation (former Cheung Laboratories) System 100, 915 MHz). In those patients with massive breast tumor ultrasound was used (Labthermics Technologies, Sonotherm 1000, 1MHz and 3MHz). Each hyperthermia treatment was of one hour duration to each field. On average each patient required 3-4 treatment fields to cover the entire disease area. Each field received 18-25 hyperthermia treatments.

ABSTRACT

    Localized inflammatory breast cancer, usually extending from the affected breast or mastectomy site to the chest wall is a rapidly lymphatic spreading form for cancer, usually resistant to radiation or chemotherapy, and prone to rapid dissemination.

    This presentation reports on a phase 1 clinical trial involving 62 fields in 22 patients. Each field received 2000-4000cGy of external beam bolused radiation combined with 25 or more hyperthermia treatments given within one hour of the radiation dose.

    Response rate was gratifying. Ninety percent (90%) of the fields responded to the combined treatment, with complete disappearance of the inflammatory process in 80% of the treated areas. There was only four recurrences in the areas of complete response, while areas that responded partially showed regrowth within 3 months of treatment. Side effects were minimal, in the form of 6 first degree, superficial burns. There was no correlation between the response rate and the radiation dose.

    These preliminary results show that thermoradiotherapy should be considered as a treatment modality for inflammatory breast cancer.

ResultsAlternative cancer treatment, alternative breast cancer treatment, alternative prostate cancer treatment.

RESPONSE RATE ( CR =PR ) = 90%

CR: Complete Response:      PR: partial Response:     NR: No Response:      SD: Stable Disease