Radiation May Help Breast Cancer Survival

WASHINGTON – A 20-year follow-up of a breast-cancer treatment trial shows that radiation, given in addition to surgery and chemotherapy, can increase women’s survival prospects.

The report, in Wednesday’s Journal of the National Cancer Institute, extends the findings of shorter-term trials.

The study analyzed 318 women in British Columbia who were treated for high-risk breast cancer between 1979 and 1986. Following mastectomy and chemotherapy, some of the women were also treated with radiation to the lymph nodes and chest wall.

The researchers, led by Dr. Joseph Ragaz of McGill University Health Center in Montreal, found there was a 32 percent reduction in breast cancer mortality and a 27 percent reduction in overall mortality in the women who received the radiation, compared to those receiving just surgery and chemotherapy.

An earlier 15-year analysis had shown improved breast cancer survival, but not overall survival, for the women receiving radiation.

In an accompanying editorial, Timothy Whelan and Mark Levine of the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, urge a similar study of radiation in women at lower risk of a return of the disease after surgery.

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On the Net:

Journal of the National Cancer Institute: http://jncicancerspectrum.oupjournals.org