Glendale doctor develops 'one and done' breast cancer procedure for early-stage patients

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- A doctor in Glendale has developed a "one and done" procedure for patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.

The breakthrough could save many women from having to go through weeks of difficult radiation treatment, and instead get it all in one operation.

"Radiation is given entirely in a single dose while the patient is in the operating room. So, when they leave the operating room, they're done with breast cancer surgery. They're done with radiation and there is no further need for radiotherapy," said Dr. Dennis Holmes of Adventist Health Glendale.

Holmes helped pioneer the procedure after many working patients -- especially those with children -- found it difficult to maintain their treatment.

"The burden of the treatment, the burden of the travel that is often involved is often a barrier to patients either initiating or completing the treatment," Holmes said.

One of those patients Mary Borjas, who felt an unusual lump on her breast before her 40th birthday.

"I would describe it as like half of a bean like wanting to pop out like sticking out," she said.

For Borjas, even receiving a diagnosis proved to be challenging.

"It took me two months to get a mammogram because doctors would say, 'It's okay. You're not 40. You can wait three months to get a mammogram until you're 40,'" recalled Borjas.

Then, once getting her diagnosis, she still faced many obstacles in receiving a full treatment, which she was told required a surgery and up to six weeks of radiation.

But Holmes gave Borjas another option: IntraOperative Radiotherapy.

Holmes said that studies show 30 minutes of targeted radiation at the time of surgery is equally effective in treating early-stage breast cancer as weeks of radiotherapy afterwards would be.

The "one and done" treatment also has less side effects, Holmes said.

"There's less radiation treatment effects on the heart. Less radiation treatment effects on the lungs," he said.

Holmes said candidates for intraoperative radiotherapy are those with stage one and early stage two breast cancer, which is about 70% of the patients he sees.

Holmes' procedure is showing results. Nine days after her procedure, Borjas is grateful and recovering well.

"With this doctor, it's not what I expected, it's way less. I cannot be any more thankful. I will bless him and thank him for the rest of my life," said Borjas.