Study backs radiation therapy for breast cancer

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 22 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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A University of New Mexicon (USA) researcher says her and co-author's work will better inform patients of its importance.

By Sue Vorenberg - svorenberg@abqtrib.com
The Albuquerque Tribune Reporter
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news04/012104_news_cancer.shtml

Breast cancer patients who have radiation therapy after a lumpectomy have a greater chance of surviving, a University of New Mexico researcher says.

Dr. Claire Verschraegen of the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center and Dr. Vincent Vinh-Hung of the Academic Hospital of Belgium published their results in this week's Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The two analyzed 15 clinical papers that followed 9,000 breast cancer patients who had the surgical procedure, in which a cancerous lump is removed from the breast. They found the death rate increases 8.6 percent in patients who don't get the therapy.

'We've used radiation for women who have had the surgery, but nobody was sure if there was a survival increase from it,' Verschraegen said in an interview. 'When we apply this to women now we think it can save a lot of lives.'

Doctors have used radiation therapy as an option after the surgery for more than 10 years. The results of the study will help them better inform patients why the procedure is important, Verschraegen said.

'It's very important to discuss these options with each patient so they understand the implications of the treatments,' she said. 'If you look at all comers with lumpectomies, it can save the lives of 17 women out of every 200.'

Besides improving survival rates, radiation significantly reduced the chance of a relapse of the disease, the researchers say. Women who did not undergo radiation were about three times as likely to develop cancer in the previously unaffected breast, the study found.

The relapse rate was 0.4 percent to 2.1 percent per year for women who got radiation and 1.4 percent to 5.7 percent for women without it, according to the study.

Verschraegen moved to the United States from Belgium in 1981 and has worked at UNM since March 2002. Before that, she worked at the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She has known Vinh-Hung for more than 25 years.

'Dr. Vinh-Hung did the bulk of the analysis, but I helped and I looked at a lot of the data and translated it into English,' Verschraegen said. 'We were surprised at how quickly our research paper was accepted (for publication). People are very interested in this area.'

The two doctors are working on follow-up research studying the importance of tumor size and the number of tumors in survival rates from the procedure. They have submitted two papers on the subject to various journals but have not received a response yet, Verschraegen said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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