Shorter courses of radiation therapy may be in order for women with early-stage breast cancer. And the largest study to test this suggests the abbreviated treatment time in no way affects risk of recurrence.Often, the greatest hassle of radiation is getting to and from appointments, every weekday, for many weeks. With less frequent visits, life could get a whole lot easier.
Dr. John Dewar of the University of Dundee in Scotland led a two-part study of nearly 4,500 women in the United Kingdom to test courses of radiation and found five years later that cancer recurrences were low -- about two to five percent -- for women who received both longer and shorter durations of therapy. There were so few recurrences -- 158 -- that doctors believe the treatments are equivalent. They just can't say this with certainty yet.
This is great news for patients traveling great distances to their treatment facilities. Other benefits of shorter radiation timelines are less swelling and shrinkage of breast tissue and less enlargement of blood vessels.
