The Evolving World Of Breast Cancer Management

Article preview from Medtech Insight - July, 2012

The device industry is playing a pivotal role in the evolution toward a more personalized approach to breast cancer management, with ongoing advances in minimally invasive treatment systems, tumor characterization and breast imaging technologies adding to the momentum. In the years ahead, as the breast cancer toolbox expands, the watchword will be “choice,” with physicians and patients offered more treatment options, targeted to their specific needs and desires, than ever before.

 

The Evolving World Of Breast Cancer Management

Article preview from Medtech Insight - July, 2012

Breast cancer management has been moving for several years now toward a more personalized approach to care – one that tailors treatment to the specific needs and desires of each patient, with the aim of providing more clinically effective and cost-effective care. That evolution is showing no signs of slowing, as researchers continue to explore many new avenues for both early detection and treatment. And, as the breast cancer toolbox expands, physicians and patients are being offered more options than ever before.

The device industry is playing a pivotal role in this shift by introducing minimally invasive therapeutic technologies and advanced imaging and diagnostic systems aimed at improving care for breast cancer patients. For example, catheter-based, single-entry breast brachytherapy devices, a market launched in the US with the introduction of MammoSite in 2002, greatly shorten post-lumpectomy radiation therapy treatment times by enabling radiation to be delivered directly to the tumor bed and have helped facilitate the use of breast-sparing lumpectomy for early-stage disease.

Although the breast brachytherapy market is under some pressure at the moment, recent studies suggest brachytherapy has already penetrated 10% or more of the market in the US, with estimates of over 50,000 women treated to date with the MammoSite device. That success has helped drive interest in a variety of other device-based technologies, including minimally invasive, energy-based ablation tools that could one day treat early-stage breast cancers without the need for surgery or radiation. Meanwhile, ongoing advances in breast cancer imaging hold the promise of improved early detection, particularly for women with dense breast tissue, which is difficult to visualize with standard mammography exams.

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Medtech Insight  newsletter provides insights into the technology and market developments (devices, instrumentation, biomaterials, gene therapy, tissue engineering, etc) impacting a wide range of  surgical and non-surgical clinical practices.