Boston Early-stage patients with breast cancer who receive a more intensive course of radiation to their whole breast over three weeks is as effective as the standard, less intensive five-week whole breast radiation and offers patients more convenience at a lower cost, thereby providing a better quality of life, as per a randomized, long-term study presented September 22, 2008, in the plenary session at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston.

The cost of this shorter therapy, called accelerated hypofractionated whole breast irradiation, is two-thirds of the cost of the standard whole breast radiation. It is also less expensive then other new approaches such as partial breast irradiation.

"There has been renewed interest in hypofractioned whole breast irradiation, due to the potential radiation advantages, patient convenience, quality of life and lower costs. However, long-term effects were a potential concern," Timothy Whelan, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the Juravinski Cancer Centre at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, said. "We were surprised that the risk of local recurrence and side effects for women treated with accelerated whole breast irradiation was so low even at 12 years. Our study shows that this therapy should be offered to select women treated with early-stage breast cancer."

A number of women with early-stage breast cancer are able to undergo breast conserving treatment to keep their breast after therapy. Typically, this means they first have surgery to remove the cancer (called a lumpectomy) followed by a course of radiation treatment to kill any cancer cells that may remain. The standard whole breast radiation treatment therapy takes approximately 15 minutes every day, Monday through Friday, for five weeks.

Between April 1993 and September 1996, scientists randomly assigned 1,234 women to be treated with either accelerated whole breast irradiation or standard whole breast irradiation. These women were followed for 12 years to determine if accelerated whole breast radiation was as effective as the standard therapy. At 10 years after therapy, cancer returned locally in 6.2 percent of patients treated with the accelerated radiation treatment, in comparison to 6.7 percent for those patients treated with standard treatment. Both groups of patients also had a good or excellent cosmetic outcome from the radiation therapys.

"This shorter therapy may not be for everyone, however, I would encourage women whose breast cancer is caught early to talk to their oncologist to see if they are a good candidate for this shorter treatment," Dr. Whelan added.


Posted by: Betsy    Source

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