A booster dose'' of radiation can lower the risk of the cancer reappearing in women aged 40 and under.
Breast cancer is the uncontrolled malignant growth of cells in the breast tissue. This study was carried out at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam on 5,318 women. After a breast tumour is removed, doctors typically give about 50 units of radiation over five weeks to prevent the cancer from reappearing. But the success of the treatment is limited. To test the impact of additional radiation, the researchers gave 2,661 of the women an extra 16 units. After five years, the booster dose had little effect on the survival rate for women aged 41 to 50. But for younger women, the chance of a recurrence was just 10.2 percent, compared with 19.5 percent for women who didn't receive the extra radiation.
It was found that an additional dose of radiation to the primary tumour area nearly halved the annual possibility of local recurrence. The extra radiation seemed to help younger women suggesting that their tumours responded more to radiation, although the exact reason still remains unclear. The results are promising and have to be continued with a long term follow-up to determine whether the booster dose of radiation affects survival without increasing the risk of long-term complications of radiation therapy. In most cases, if the cancer is detected early and treated appropriately, breast cancer patients can usually lead a cancer free life.
NEJM, Nov 2001;