Advances in breast cancer treatment

By Barb Randall

The Lake Oswego Review, Dec 18, 2009, Updated Dec 19, 2009

Lake Oswego resident Mary Mogentale holds a SAVI applicator designed by Cianna Medical Inc. The applicator reduces treatment time from several weeks to just five days and provides physicians with great control over radiation delivery.

VERN UYETAKE / lake oswego review

Like the rest of us, Lake Oswego resident Mary Mogentale is never happy to hear about another person being diagnosed with breast cancer.

She is, however, very eager to share information about a new treatment that can reduce the impact of the disease on a woman’s life.

Mogentale is a registered technologist in radiology and mammography with Cianna Medical out of Aliso Viejo, Calif. Cianna Medical is a women’s health company dedicated to the treatment of early-stage breast cancer.

She travels from Lake Oswego throughout the western United States teaching physicians about the benefits of Cianna Medical’s SAVI breast brachytherapy applicator.

A little more than a generation ago, the standard treatment for women diagnosed with breast cancer was to undergo a mastectomy in which the entire breast was removed.

Over the past few decades, technological advances in detection combined with new treatment approaches have significantly increased the choices available to women.

When diagnosed early, most women have the option to save their breast by choosing breast conservation therapy (BCT).

Cianna’s mission is to make BCT available to more women, by developing new approaches to delivering follow-up radiation therapy.

The SAVI breast brachytherapy applicator addresses two key issues in radiation treatment. For women who would face hurdles completing an extended treatment schedule, SAVI reduces treatment time from daily sessions for several weeks to a simple schedule of twice-daily treatments for five days.

Many women consider this accelerated schedule to be a significant benefit.

The design of SAVI provides physicians with the greatest control over radiation delivery.

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