Breast Cancer Patient Discussion Guide

Approximately 50% of cancer patients receive some type of radiation therapy during their cancer treatment. Radiation therapy can be used on its own, or in combination with chemotherapy, surgery, or hormone therapy. It is used to destroy cancer cells and is completely painless, similar to getting a chest x-ray. It is usually given once a day for between 1 day and 8 weeks, in a radiation center where you lie on a treatment couch.

Radiation therapy has been shown to be a highly effective treatment for breast cancer but the left breast is close to the heart, which leaves the heart vulnerable to radiation exposure. This has been shown to sometimes lead to post-treatment heart conditions¹ like heart disease and heart attacks. But new techniques are becoming more widely adopted to help eliminate these risks.

Many centers are beginning to use a technique called Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) to move the patient’s heart away from the left breast during radiation therapy. Taking a deep breath moves the heart down and away from the breast to reduce radiation exposure during treatment. However, achieving this same position for daily radiation treatment can be difficult. Patients breathe in different ways at different times and may arch their backs. These different movements can appear similar to a patient who is holding their breath correctly, but do not necessarily separate the heart from the breast.

Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) technique can be challenging to implement for many clinics. However, with the use of a new positioning and movement monitoring technology called AlignRT®, a clinician can have confidence that your breath hold is similar from day to day.² Becoming a new standard of care, this approach can help ensure you are positioned accurately before and during your treatment, helping to reduce exposure to your heart and healthy tissue, and possibly also eliminating the need for tattoos or marks.