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Radiation Treatment During Surgery

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For some patients, we are able to offer a single dose of radiation during surgery, lessening the risk that they will need radiation treatment again after surgery.

Intraoperative radiation therapy, or IORT, is an innovative, high-tech approach in which the patient receives targeted radiation treatment in the operating room during cancer surgery. IORT enables your cancer specialists to deliver a higher dose of radiation therapy to your tumor than traditional radiation therapy. It may also reduce the number of treatment visits you’ll need.

Leaders in the Use of Intraoperative Radiation Therapy

Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center was one of the first New York City hospitals to offer IORT, and we continue to lead the study of this approach and how it affects cancer treatment and outcomes.

In one of our clinical trials of IORT in breast cancer patients, we studied more than 3,000 breast cancer patients from around the world to determine the impact of IORT on outcomes. Results showed that select patients with low-risk tumors who receive IORT immediately following a lumpectomy, a type of breast cancer surgery, do as well as people who receive standard whole-breast radiation therapy. Patients who received IORT also had less skin toxicity (radiation dermatitis) and were less likely to have the cancer return compared with people who received whole-breast radiation.

IORT for Breast Cancer

At Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, we have treated over 300 patients with breast IORT. Eighty-five percent of these patients don’t need any additional visits for radiation treatment.

And for people who develop a second, local occurrence following previous breast cancer treatment, we can often use IORT as an alternative to mastectomy and help preserve the breast.