LONDON, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Scientists who
systematically evaluated the results of therapy studies in breast cancer
concluded that post-operation radiation therapy is an indispensable part of the
interdisciplinary treatment for breast cancer.
Radiation after a breast-preserving therapy lowers
the risk of recurring tumor growth in the breast (known as "local relapse") by
70 percent, independent of the age of the patient or whether she receives any
additional drug treatment, said scientists in the "Early Breast Cancer Study
Collaborative Group" (EBCTCG) who studied to what degree a radiation therapy can
affect local relapse and the breast cancer survival overall.
The scientists presented their latest analysis on
Monday at the conference of the European radiation researchers in Leipzig,
Germany, the European science website Alpha Galileo reported.
According to the researchers, in the therapy studies,
7,300 patients underwent breast-preserving surgery and then were randomly
distributed to either a radiated or a non-radiated group.
The results showed that if the lymph nodes of the
women had already been infested by tumor cells, the tumor began to grow again in
the breast in 46.5 percent if no follow-up treatment took place, and in
contrast, a local relapse occurred only in 13 percent in the group of
radiation-treated women.
Women whose lymph nodes were free of tumors also
benefited from a radiation treatment with the local relapse rate at only 10
percent, while almost a third (30 percent) of the women in the non-radiated
group suffers a relapse.
The long-term survival rates - up to 15 years - are
also improved by 8.2 percent with a radiation therapy.
Five percent more of the radiated women are alive
after 15 years than of the group without radiation treatment.
The scientists also analyzed the therapy results in
various subgroups, which summarized, for instance, patients of certain age
groups or tumor sizes, and the results showed every group benefits from a
radiation therapy.
Therefore British scientist John Robert Yarnold of
the renowned Royal Marsden Hospital emphasizes in a review lecture that women
under the age of 80 should receive radiation therapy as standard treatment in
any case after a breast-preserving therapy, unless severe concomitant diseases
speak against it, the report said. Enditem
