Left Breast Radiotherapy: “DIBH”, a more effective technique for cancer treatment has been implemented at the University Hospital.

Starting this week, Saint-Pierre University Hospital has implemented a new technique to better treat women with left breast cancer who resort to radiotherapy. Because if this treatment makes it possible to target and destroy cancerous lesions with radiation, it is also important to spare as much nearby healthy organs as possible.

Thus, during radiotherapy treatment for left breast cancer, the goal is to avoid peripheral damage to the heart and left lung.

So patients will resort to “DIBH“, for”Hold a deep inspiration breath“Or the block deep inspiration technique, during their breast radiotherapy session. A way to move the breast away from the heart and lungs, because when you take a deep breath, the rib cage expands and the distance between the breast and the organs increases. Below it.

But to ensure that deep inspiration establishes sufficient distance, CHU Sud has also created a new movement detection system through 3D cameras and stereo vision,”SGRT“, for”Surface Guided Radiation Therapy“, or in French”Surface guided radiotherapy”

Oncologist and Radiotherapist Dr. For Sebastien Meunier, this is real progress. “The SGRT technique makes it possible to monitor breathing movements live, and we can only treat in this window where the patient is in deep inspiration. We will always have the same amount we want to deliver to the breast, but we will reduce it to the heart and lungs.“, he explains.

“The interest of this deep inspiration is to keep the organs at risk, here the heart and lungs, that we’re going to treat with radiotherapy, away from the breast. That’s a plus compared to what we’ve been doing. So far.

Dr. Sebastian Meunier, Oncologist and Radiotherapist at CHU Sud

Five patients were initially selected, and the first patient was treated on March 7, 2024 at CHU Sud. Hospital staff have been training in this technique for months, whether they are doctors, technicians or dosimetrists who are responsible for radiotherapy treatment.

Patients will have to be trained before being able to benefit from the new procedure, and will be supported from the first consultation. Because they have to hold their breath for 15 to 20 seconds during radiation treatment.

Every year, about a hundred patients are treated for left breast cancer at CHU Sud.