Breast cancer patients not getting needed radiation therapy

Almost 1 in 5 women who undergo mastectomies after a breast cancer diagnosis are not getting the radiation therapy they need, according to a study to be published in the March 15 issue of the American Cancer Society's journal Cancer. University of Michigan radiation oncologist Dr. Reshma Jagsi and colleagues found that, in a group of breast cancer patients who had undergone mastectomy and whose records clearly indicated that radiation therapy would reduce the risk of a recurrence, 19% failed to get it.

The most common reason women cited for not following their surgery with radiation is that their physicians did not recommend it to them. "That's not good enough," Dr. Jagsi said. "This is clearly lifesaving treatment."

Jagsi suggested that many of the women whose records she studied chose mastectomy over lumpectomy, a somewhat less-disfiguring breast cancer surgery nearly always followed by radiation therapy, because they believed that, with mastectomy, subsequent radiation would not be necessary. "That's not always the case, and patients choosing one surgery over another hoping to avoid radiation need to be aware of this," Jagsi said.

For women with particularly large tumors, or whose cancer has spread to four or more nearby lymph nodes, "there's absolutely no debate" that radiation therapy after surgery is indicated, Jagsi said. In fact, women with lymph node involvement in fewer than four nodes should still consider it, she added.

-- Melissa Healy

Comments

[Jane Underwood]

The statement "there's absolutely no debate" made my Jagsi is woefully, irresponsibily incorrect. There is most certainly debate. Anyone who has done objective research into this -- anyone willing to consider going beyond an immediate acceptance of the pervasive, "by-the-book, mainstream, conventional, cookie-cutter land of breast cancer treatment" -- can find information from reputable, scientifically documented medical research studies, some of which has been around for decades, that refutes this statement.

Here's another fact to consider: Yes, radiation can decrease chances of recurrence in the breast. However, it does not increase a woman's overall chance of SURVIVAL. Why is this? What does it mean? What are the implications? Well, do your own research and find out.