Dec 16, 2005

Radiation Therapy After Lumpectomy Improves Survival

Almost every clinical trial involving post-operative radiation in women with breast cancer has shown benefit in terms of reducing the recurrence of breast cancer. It was not clear until now if radiation therapy actually improves survival and makes women with breast cancer live longer. A new study seems to show just the same.

To come to this conclusion, researchers analyzed 78 clinical trials in a process called meta-analysis and showed that use of post-operative radiation therapy decreases five year recurrence rate of breast cancer from 26 percent to 7 percent. The researchers also demonstrated for the first time a survival advantage with post-operative radiation therapy by showing the odds of dying from the disease decreases from 36 percent to 31 percent with the use of radiation therapy.

Patients who had mastectomy, also benefited from post-operative radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is usually given to patients with mastectomy only if they are high risk of recurrence of breast cancer due to involvement of multiple lymph nodes.

"This study provides the first really definite evidence that, for women who've had breast-conserving surgery and for women whose cancer has spread to the armpit, radiotherapy reduces the long-term risk of dying from the disease," said Dr Richard Peto, a co-author of the report.

These research findings appeared in the latest issue of the medical journal Lancet.

Sherin      

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

Breast cancer blog: Breast cancer blog is run by Emily and other bloggers and they bring you the latest stories, news and events that are related to breast cancer. Increasing awareness about breast cancer among women and in the general population is the main goal of this breast cancer blog.

Lung cancer blog: Lung cancer blog is managed by Scott with the help of other bloggers. Through this blog Scott and his friends constantly remind the readers about the dangers of smoking. It's a never-ending struggle against this miserable disease with which a social stigma of smoking is associated.

Colon cancer blog: Colon cancer blog is run by Sue and other bloggers. Sue brings a personal touch to the colon cancer blog since her mother died of colon cancer few years ago. She writes about stories, research news and advances in treatment related to colon cancer.

Prostate cancer blog: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. American Cancer Society estimates that over 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer occur in the United state every year. This important blog about prostate cancer is run by Mark and other bloggers. This blog brings news, stories, and other personal observations related to prostate cancer.

Medicineworld.org publishes a diabetes watch blog and this blog is run by JoAnn other bloggers. This diabetes watch blog brings you the latest in the field of diabetes. This includes personal stories, advances in diagnosis and treatment, and other observations about diabetes. Improving awareness about diabetes is an important mission of this group.

Janet      

Breast cancer
Every year, more than 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. Breast cancer ranks second as the leading cause of cancer deaths in American women. Until recently breast cancer topped the list of leading causes of cancer deaths in women, but lately lung cancer has claimed the top position. If skin cancer is excluded, breast cancer is the commonest cancer among American women.