Breast Cancer: Radiation Therapy Reduces Recurrence

      The Breast Cancer is the most frequent Cancer and a leading cause of death in women in most of the developed and developing countries. The researchers have shown that about 1 in 11 women develop breast cancer during their life-time. No doubt, a woman diagnosed as having breast cancer the chances of her surviving the next five years remains about 65% which exclusively depends upon the stage of the cancer at the time of the actual diagnosis.

     

      The three basic techniques for an early detection of breast cancer are the self-examination of the breast consultation and examination by a physician and mammography (a type of X-ray screening). This is followed by other clinical examination and tests. Once found positive this exercise is followed by biopsy, surgery or radiation.

     

      The surgical removal of small breast tumors and subsequently followed by radiation therapy significantly reduces the risk that women will suffer a recurrence of breast cancer. The two medical studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine also confirms that the routine mammograms discover the breast cancer at an early stage.  According to the researchers at the at the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania found that the women who had radiation therapy following the removal of a small tumor, in an operation known as a lumpectomy, had fewer new tumors. The trial included 818 women with a form of cancer called carcinoma in situ. The study found that the likelihood a woman would remain cancer-free after five years was 73.8 per cent among those who has a lumpectomy compared with 84.4 per cent in woman who had received breast radiation.

      In another study, the researchers at the National Institute for the Study and Cure of Tumors in Milan, Italy found that the recurrence of breast cancer was 8.8 per cent among woman who received no radiation following a surgical procedure called quad-rantectomy, compared with 0.3 percent in the women who did receive radiation treat-ment after surgery.

     

      Further, the Italian research team found that the woman over 55 of age did not receive radiation had only a 4 % likelihood that they would get another tumor. The researchers claimed that “Local recurrence occurred mainly in patients below 55 years of age and rarely beyond this age”. But for young women, ”even an extensive surgical resection offers only incomplete protection” against recurrence of the cancer and “post surgical radiotherapy is essential”.

        The older women who have had a sizable portion of their breast removed, radia-tion therapy may not be needed because the chances of recurrence of cancer in such cases are typically small. In fact, the evaluation of the various breast cancer screening studies, health agencies currently recommend that the women in 20 years of age should examine their breast monthly to ensure early detection. Woman with a family history of breast cancer should consider a more intensive screening programme on detection of a lump or thickening in the breast, a change in shape or an abnormal dis-charge, a symptom of benign condition rather than the breast cancer