Canadian doctors are studying a method of treatment for early-stage breast cancer patients that could cut their treatment time from several weeks to a single day.

The treatment involves a permanent radiation seed implant - a new twist on the internal radiation treatments that American doctors already are studying and using. The implant is placed in the breast shortly after the cancerous mass is removed and releases controlled amounts of radiation to complete treatment.

"We have developed a device that you can implant in a breast accurately," says Jean-Philippe Pignol, M.D., Ph.D., a radiation oncologist and associate professor at the University of Toronto. "It releases radiation slowly; the half-life is 17 days, so every 17 days, it lets go only half the radiation. After one month, you have delivered three-fourths of the radiation; after two months, almost all the radiation is gone, which corresponds to the regular treatment time."

The goal of that treatment is to kill any "microscopic bits" of the cancer left behind in breast tissue after the lump is removed. For years, such treatment was handled by aiming an external beam of radiation into the entire breast (known as full-breast irradiation) daily. More recently, American doctors have come up with a way to "seed" the breast with temporary seeds, which deliver the radiation twice a day, to only the affected part of the breast (known as partial-breast irradiation).

The method being tested in Canada, Pignol says, delivers the radiation constantly, does not have to be removed and is expected to allow the patient to resume her regular life - taking care of family, going to work - almost immediately.

But the new seed does remain in the testing phase.

"We have, so far, tested 45 of what will be 65 patients, and it's going much faster than we expected," Pignol says. "And when we looked at the patients we have done, we found what we expected. There are far fewer side effects regarding the skin, with six times less burning and zero [instances of] serious burning. Patient satisfaction is very good, and none of the patients have [had recurrences] after 20 months."

With only 45 people tested, though, Kelly Martinez, M.D., F.A.C.S., co-chair of the Breast Cancer Channel for Revolution Health Group's Medical Advisory Board, notes that the data collected remains tentative.

Martinez says that other seed treatments being done in the U.S., with temporary radiation seeds that work twice a day, are still being tested in thousands of subjects. At this point, no results have been compiled - meaning that the recurrence rate and the most cost-effective treatment are not yet known.

"As soon as partial-breast irradiation is proven to have at least the same recurrence rate as whole-breast irradiation without increased morbidity, then the best delivery system will be determined based on reproducible placement, cost, etc.," Martinez says.

The selling point for his seed implant, Pignol says, is its patient-friendliness.

"It has no aim to improve the cure rate of cancer, because that is already very high in early-stage breast cancer," he says. "But what you want - if you have a good cure rate - is to make the treatment more patient-friendly. And in this case, it is so simple for the patient. She can go home, take care of children, go to work and take on a normal life."

The treatment being tested takes about one hour and is only aimed at the 20 percent of patients who have early-stage breast cancer.

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