There has been a long controversy in the scientific community about benefits of radiation therapy after breast cancer surgery. Now it looks like this controversy is coming to an end.
A new research report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggest that women who get an optimal dose of radiation therapy after mastectomy have a better survival in 10 years compared to those women, who never received radiation therapy.
These researchers from the National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Centre in New South Wales, Australia reanalyzed data from 36 clinical trials in which radiation therapy was the major difference between groups of patients. These 36 clinical trials were divided into three categories, those in which an optimal dose of radiation was used, those in which inadequate doses of radiation therapy was used, and those in which excessive doses of radiation therapy was used.
These researchers have found that in five years, patients belonging to the first category had 2.9 percent increase in survival at the end of five years. The difference increased to 6.4 percent in ten years time. The second and third categories where an optimal dose of radiation therapy was not used, there was no apparent improvement in survival.
The researchers say that this study shows that there is strong evidence for the benefits of radiation in those women who received breast cancer surgery. They recommend that post mastectomy radiation should be given to all women who have high risk of breast cancer recurrence. |
