After surgery and standard radiotherapy, an extra boost of radiotherapy can help prevent the recurrence of early breast cancer for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) , says Dr Gruber, Bern University, Switzerland and an international team of experts.
DCIS can spread to surrounding tissue if left untreated. Of every thousand women who go for breast screening, one is diagnosed with DCIS. DCIS often has no symptoms. A few patients may have a lump or a small discharge from the nipple. Some patients with DCIS will never get invasive breast cancer, even if they have no treatment for it, but some will. It is currently not possible to know which ones are at risk.
You can read about this study in the journal Lancet Oncology.
Dr. Gruber and team looked at 373 women, all aged 45 or less. The women were split into three groups. They all had breast-conserving surgery, and then:
Group A
No radiotherapy afterwards
Group B
Radiotherapy afterwards but no radiotherapy boost
Group C
Radiotherapy afterwards plus radiotherapy boost
Group C had the lowest risk of cancer recurrence while Group A had the highest risk. The researchers concluded that the women benefited from the extra boost. Giving women a radiotherapy boost means fewer repeat surgeries to remove breast tissue or the whole breast.
Gruber would like to see a large randomised trial to confirm his team’s findings.
?Boost radiotherapy in young women with ductal carcinoma in situ: a multicentre, retrospective study of the Rare Cancer Network?
Authors: Omlin A, Amichetti M, Azria D, Cole BF, Fourneret P, Poortmans P, Naehrig D, Miller RC, Krengli M, Gutierrez Miguelez C, Morgan D, Goldberg H, Scandolaro L, Gastelblum P, Ozsahin M, Dohr D, Christie D, Oppitz U, Abacioglu U, Gruber G
Lancet Oncology
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today