Radiation therapy indispensable for breast cancer: research

Scientists who systematically evaluated the results of therapy studies in breast cancer concluded that post-operation radiation therapy is an indispensable part of the interdisciplinary treatment for breast cancer.

Radiation after a breast-preserving therapy lowers the risk of recurring tumor growth in the breast (known as "local relapse") by 70 percent, independent of the age of the patient or whether she receives any additional drug treatment, said scientists in the " Early Breast Cancer Study Collaborative Group" (EBCTCG) who studied to what degree a radiation therapy can affect local relapse and the breast cancer survival overall.

The scientists presented their latest analysis on Monday at the conference of the European radiation researchers in Leipzig, Germany, the European science website AlphaGalileo reported.

According to the researchers, in the therapy studies, 7,300 patients underwent breast-preserving surgery and then were randomly distributed to either a radiated or a non-radiated group.

The results showed that if the lymph nodes of the women had already been infested by tumor cells, the tumor began to grow again in the breast in 46.5 percent if no follow-up treatment took place, and in contrast, a local relapse occurred only in 13 percent in the group of radiation-treated women.

Women whose lymph nodes were free of tumors also benefited from a radiation treatment with the local relapse rate at only 10 percent, while almost a third (30 percent) of the women in the non- radiated group suffers a relapse.

The long-term survival rates - up to 15 years - are also improved by 8.2 percent with a radiation therapy.

Five percent more of the radiated women are alive after 15 years than of the group without radiation treatment.

The scientists also analyzed the therapy results in various subgroups, which summarized, for instance, patients of certain age groups or tumor sizes, and the results showed every group benefits from a radiation therapy.

Therefore British scientist John Robert Yarnold of the renowned Royal Marsden Hospital emphasizes in a review lecture that women under the age of 80 should receive radiation therapy as standard treatment in any case after a breast-preserving therapy, unless severe concomitant diseases speak against it, the report said.

Source: Xinhua