The Aventura Comprehensive Cancer Center is pleased to announce the addition of high-dose rate brachytherapy, a new weapon to its cancer-fighting arsenal. Available now, this innovative five-day radiation treatment for breast cancer is a significant advance in reducing the treatment time of the standard six-week course of radiotherapy and coincides with the arrival of newly appointed Cancer Center Medical Director Carlos Lopez, M.D., who is certified in this form of advanced therapy.
High-dose rate brachytherapy, or HDR, is used after the breast-sparing surgical intervention of lumpectomy that is a departure from radical mastectomy or complete surgical resection of the breast. The goal of HDR, as with most radiotherapy, is to locally eradicate tumor cells that may remain after surgery thereby reducing risk of recurrence.