Shorter-Course Radiation for Breast Cancer Safe, Effective

New findings in cancer radiology also support 'seed' therapy for breast cancer, and a proton beam technique

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

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MONDAY, Sept. 22 (HealthDay News) -- A more intense but briefer course of radiation therapy is equally effective as the traditional longer course for certain breast cancer patients, Canadian researchers report.

The new findings reflect a longer term follow-up than those presented five years ago, noted Dr. Timothy Whelan, lead author and a radiation oncologist at the Juravinski Cancer Centre, McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario.

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His team was expected to present the findings Monday at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) meeting in Boston.

"We first presented our results five years ago, but many oncologists were reluctant to adopt this," said Whelan, referring to the briefer but more intense radiation treatments. "They were concerned about long-term effects."

In the new study, Whelan's group followed the women for 12 years, comparing the results in 1,234 women with early-stage breast cancer who had a lumpectomy and then were randomly assigned to receive standard whole breast radiation for five weeks, to women who received "accelerated" whole breast radiation for three weeks.

At the 10-year mark, cancer returned locally in 6.2 percent of those who got the briefer therapy, compared with 6.7 percent of those who got traditional therapy. Cosmetic results were similar in both groups. The researchers noted no differences between the two groups in terms of radiation-linked side effects.

In a second study, also expected to be presented Monday at the ASTRO conference, Dr. Peter Beitsch, a surgical oncologist at Medical City Dallas Hospital, Dallas, said that radiation "seed" implants work well as an alternative to standard whole breast radiation. He used a type of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) that involves a radiation seed implant, called balloon brachytherapy.

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