Older women with early-stage breast cancer who went through radiation therapy after conservative surgery had a 67% lower risk for subsequent mastectomy than those who didn’t receive radiation therapy, according to a study of 7,403 women with breast cancer. Ten years after lumpectomy, the risk of subsequent mastectomy was 6.3% for those who were not treated with radiation compared with 3.2% of those who were. Women aged 75 to 79 who had pathologic lymph node assessment without evidence of high-grade tumor, however, did not have better outcomes with radiation. The study appeared online in the journal Cancer. MedPage Today (free registration) (8/13)
Radiation treatment after lumpectomy may cut mastectomy risk later
August 18, 2012 By
