Dennis Holmes, M.D. was featured in a Fox 11 News report on intraoperative radiotherapy, in which qualified breast lumpectomy patients undergo radiotherapy immediately following the lumpectomy.

Results from a study on the procedure, called Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy, or TARGIT, were presented in June 2010 at the American Society for Clinical Oncologists. Holmes is an investigator on the ongoing TARGIT clinical trial. The study showed that directing one high dose of radiation at the site of a tumor was as effective as the several weeks of radiotherapy usually recommended for such patients.

Standard radiotherapy typically is given over several weeks to prevent overexposure of the skin to radiation. Patients who undergo the TARGIT procedure receive several minutes of targeted radiotherapy while they are still under anesthesia, with protective material inserted to protect the rest of the chest from overexposure.

The TARGIT trial is not for every breast cancer patient. It is limited at this time to women with tumors about the size of a quarter or smaller, women with tumors that did not affect the lymph nodes, and women age 45 or older.

For more information about the Targit Clinical Trial, go to: www.targittrial.com/whatisiort.htm