Study Shows Shorter Radiation Treatments Are Better Against Breast Cancer

Researchers in a recent study found that patients who receive higher doses of whole breast radiation over four weeks experienced fewer side effects and lived a better quality of life as compared to those who received lower does over six weeks.

Radiation therapy to the breast has been given in smaller doses over a long period, which has been a long-time standard. M.D. Anderson had, in fact, only adopted this treatment in 2013, and only one-third of breast cancer patients who should receive the treatment end up receiving it. The study’s findings can be found in the journal JAMA Oncology, where it was posted earlier in the week.

Typically, women with breast cancer are treated with conventionally fractionated whole-breast irradiation or CF-WBI. 149 were treated with CF-WBI and 138 with Hyprofractionaed-Whole Breast Irradiation (HF-WBI). “For too long, longer-course treatment has been the standard”. “This is a major priority for women undergoing breast cancer radiation”, says Shaitelman.

As told by the researchers of this newly found out study, it is necessary to communicate with the breast cancer women to improve their power to participate with the doctors to take a decision on the treatment.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Statements that woman are having unnecessary mastectomies (mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts), partially or completely because a national screening program is spotting cancers that will never be life-threatening are part of a debate about cancer screening.

The result was excellent: without any loss in effectiveness, the patients who got the shorter treatment had less difficulty caring for their families and therefore a higher quality of life, which tend to be a big priority for women who have to endure breast cancer radiation.

“With comparable tumor control, lower costs and reduced morbidity, hypofractionation should be strongly considered for the majority of patients with early-stage disease”, wrote Harvard-affiliated doctors Shyam Tanguturi and Jennifer Bellon. On the whole, the researchers managed to present 2,309 subjects who underwent elaborate toxicity assessment within a week of undergoing radiotherapy along with weekly evaluation during the treatment. Six months after treatment, patients in the hypofractionated group had less fatigue and were better able to care for their families than those in the conventional group.

The study, published this week in JAMA Oncology, is the first comprehensive analysis comparing quality of life effects from the two regimens of breast cancer radiation therapies. Dr. Simona Shaitelman, the study’s initial author and a professor of radiation oncology, explained.