Post-surgery radiation helps breast cancer

WASHINGTON - Radiation after surgery for early-stage breast cancer improves survival chances for most patients, according to a study that analyzed the case histories of more than 9,000 women.

Two doctors evaluated the results of 15 international studies and found women who omitted radiation therapy after surgery were dying at a rate 8.6 percent higher than women who had the radiation.

A decision against radiation "may translate into a considerable survival disadvantage for patients," wrote Dr. Vincent Vinh-Hung of the Academic Hospital in Jette, Belgium, and Dr. Claire Verschraegen of the University of New Mexico Cancer Research and Treatment Center in Albuquerque.

A report on the analysis appears in this week's Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Radiation is given to most early-stage breast cancer patients who choose to undergo a surgical technique, called lumpectomy, that removes the tumor but leaves the rest of the breast intact, according to an editorial in the journal by Dr. Katherine Vallis and Dr. Ian Tannock of Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. The findings, they said, reinforce that practice.

Despite the statistical survival benefit, however, Verschraegen said radiation is not appropriate for every patient. Some women might have other conditions, such as vascular disease or previous radiation treatments, that would make radiation therapy more risky than the cancer.

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