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Study Shows 19% of Breast Cancer Patients Don’t Receive Recommended Radiation After Mastectomy

February 19, 2009
Publication
Article
OncologyONCOLOGY Vol 23 No 2
Volume 23
Issue 2

One-fifth of women who should receive radiation after a mastectomy are not getting this potentially lifesaving treatment, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

One-fifth of women who should receive radiation after a mastectomy are not getting this potentially lifesaving treatment, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study looked at 396 women who were treated with a mastectomy for breast cancer. The researchers found that 19% of women who fell clearly within guidelines recommending radiation after the mastectomy did not receive that treatment. Results of the study appear online in the journal Cancer and will be published in the March 15 issue.

Postmastectomy radiation is known to decrease the risk of cancer returning in the chest wall and has been shown to reduce mortality in high-risk patients, but there has been some debate within the cancer community about who is likely to benefit most. Current guidelines recommend radiation after mastectomy for women who had particularly large tumors or cancer in four or more of their nearby lymph nodes. Even women with fewer positive lymph nodes should strongly consider radiation treatment.

Potentially Lifesaving Treatment
“There’s an identifiable high-risk group for whom there’s absolutely no debate-they need radiation after their mastectomy. Even in this group for whom it’s crystal clear, we found that only four-fifths were treated. That’s not good enough. This is a potentially lifesaving treatment,” says lead study author Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, assistant professor of radiation oncology at the U-M Medical School.

The most common reason women cited for not considering radiation therapy was that their doctors did not recommend it. “Much attention has been focused on educating people that they need radiation after lumpectomy. But many women assume having a mastectomy means radiation won’t be needed. That’s not always the case, and patients choosing one surgery over another hoping to avoid radiation need to be aware of this,” Jagsi says.

Articles in this issue

Adjuvant Therapy for Colorectal Cancer: Increasingly Complex as Patients Age
A Man With Changes in the Urinary Bladder: Benign Metaplasia or Adenocarcinoma?
A Man With Changes in the Urinary Bladder: Benign Metaplasia or Adenocarcinoma?
First-Line Maintenance With Erlotinib/Bevacizumab Improves Progression-Free Survival in Advanced Lung Cancer
Study Shows 19% of Breast Cancer Patients Don’t Receive Recommended Radiation After Mastectomy
Toward Evidence-Based Management of the Dermatologic Effects of EGFR Inhibitors
Toward Evidence-Based Management of the Dermatologic Effects of EGFR Inhibitors
The Growing Importance of Skin Toxicity in EGFR Inhibitor Therapy
In Search of Rigorous Data on How to Palliate the EGFR Inhibitor–Induced Rash
Endocrine Therapy in 2009: Consideration of the Tumor and the Host
Predicting Endocrine Responsiveness: Novel Biomarkers on the Horizon
Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Colon Cancer in the Elderly: Moving From Evidence to Practice
How Should We Care for Elderly Cancer Patients?
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Predicting Endocrine Therapy Responsiveness in Breast Cancer
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