Study Encourages Radiation For Breast Cancer Victims

WASHINGTON -- Women who opt for radiation after surgery for early stage breast cancer have an improved chance of surviving, according to a study of more than 9,000 women's case histories.

Radiation is given to most early stage breast cancer patients who choose to undergo a lumpectomy, which removes the tumor but leaves the rest of the breast intact.

However, the option of lumpectomy followed by radiation has been under question by some doctors who say the therapy is costly, not always widely available and includes side effects.

A Belgian team evaluated the results of 15 international studies and found that women who decided against radiation therapy after surgery died at a rate 8.6 percent higher than women who had the treatment.

The researchers also calculated that women who received breast-conserving surgery alone were three times more likely to have a relapse than women who had breast-conserving surgery followed by radiotherapy.

A report on the analysis is published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute .

In an editorial accompanying the study, Toronto researchers said that although there may be a small subset of women who might not need to have radiotherapy after surgery, this analysis "reinforces the view that the large majority of patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery should also receive radiotherapy."