AI-assisted adaptive radiation therapy acts like a GPS as it targets areas impacted by breast cancer, doctors say
A new weapon against breast cancer is using artificial intelligence to make radiation more precise, sparing healthy breast tissue.
CBS News New York recently met one of the first patients on Long Island to receive this high-tech treatment.
Natalie Calderon, a 49-year-old Rosedale accountant, had avoided mammograms for a few years, until she says a vivid dream convinced her to get checked.
"It's time to listen to your body, listen to your intuition," Calderon said. "I was faced with a doctor and he basically put his hand here and said go get checked."
She listened, and was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer.
Cutting-edge science known as AI-assisted adaptive radiation therapy treated her after a lumpectomy. The treatment helps doctors at Northwell Health Radiation Medicine by precisely targeting only the area where cancer was removed.
"In the moment, while the patient is on the treatment table, tailor and adapt their radiation treatment plan to their anatomy on that day, in that moment," said Dr. Fleur Gallant, a Northwell Health radiation oncologist.
Like a GPS that recalculates its route.
"Conditions can change and sometimes we need to recalculate a different route and that's what we do with adaptive therapy. It's a much smaller area with a lot of sparing of normal surrounding breast tissue," Gallant said.
The benefit of less radiation is less time away from family and work and a better cosmetic result, because whole breast radiation can cause scarring and breast asymmetry.
"By shrinking the footprint of the radiation therapy in the breast, you're getting less of that scarring, a softer and more natural breast and one that has less cosmetic detriment from the radiation," Gallant said.
Calderon, who was sidelined by the radiation for only five days, is now cancer free. She is encouraging other women not to wait for a wake-up call.
"Cancer treatment is evolving, basically, so I would say don't be scared. It could be a chapter in your life, but it's not your entire story," she said.
Adaptive radiation therapy is also used to more precisely target other cancers, doctors say.