Early-stage breast cancer patients may be able to finish their post-surgical radiation treatment in a shorter amount of time. Durham Regional Hospital is offering a new approach that reduces the course of treatment from six weeks to four.

"The standard radiation course is six weeks, Monday through Friday," said Dr. Bridget Koontz, Medical Director of Radiation Oncology Services at Durham Regional Hospital. "Now, it's only 20 minutes a day, but six weeks is a long period of time for patients' work and their family lives to be disrupted."

For patients like 71-year-old Marie Brown, having a shorter treatment meant less inconvenience for her and for her family.

"I can drive a little bit, but I can't drive very far, so I ask people to take me different places," said Brown. "And so that way, I could get it done fast."

But speed isn't the only driver. A Canadian study showed 10-year outcomes for women who met the criteria for the shorter treatment were just as good as for those who had more traditional therapy.

"I look at patients who have early stage breast cancer, so they need to be node negative, meaning the cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes," said Koontz. "And then patients that are treated by lumpectomy."

The total amount of radiation ends up being about the same for patients, with slightly higher doses delivered in that shorter amount of time. As in the original study, the whole breast is radiated; however, Koontz opts to give a booster dose or radiation directly to the tumor site at the end of treatment.

"The tumor is gone. What we're doing is trying to prevent the chances of it coming back," she said.

In addition to lower recurrence rates, about 70 percent of patients in the original study had good or excellent cosmetic outcomes, with little long-term effects from the radiation.

The four-week course of treatment also is offered at other hospitals in the Duke Health System.