Chemotherapy Reduces Breast Cancer Death Rate

In the battle against breast cancer, modern chemotherapy drugs are now reducing death rates by more than one-third.

There is also promising news for women who are battling breast cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. A new study from Oxford University that was recently published in The Lancet medical journal has shown that modern chemotherapy drugs are reducing breast cancer death rates.

The study included data from 123 trials conducted over the past four decades involving about 100,000 women. Findings showed that standard while chemotherapy treatments in the 1980s reduced breast cancer mortality by nearly one-quarter, the effectiveness of modern chemo drugs cut the death rates by about one-third when compared to patients not undergoing chemotherapy.

The positive impact was applicable to all women regardless of age, tumor size, level of spread, and whether or not the cancer was sensitive to oestrogen. However, for ER-positive cancers, which are sensitive to oestrogen, a combination of chemotherapy and hormone (endocrine) therapy was found to be more effective than hormone treatment alone.

Yet another study warns that a faster form of radiation therapy, which is quickly gaining popularity for women having early-stage breast cancer, may not be as effective or as safe as conventional radiation treatment.

The study included the Medicare records of over 130,000 women. Findings revealed that women who opted for the faster treatment, known as brachytherapy, had about double the likelihood of having to undergo a mastectomy within the following five years compared to those who underwent conventional whole breast radiation.

Brachytherapy uses a catheter to deliver radiation directly into the cavity that remains after a tumor is surgically removed by lumpectomy. Due to concentrating the radiation in the affected area, duration of treatment is as short as one week, versus the six to seven weeks necessary for completion of whole breast radiation therapy. According to the study, the use of brachytherapy among Medicare patients jumped from less than one percent in 2000, to 13 percent of those receiving lumpectomy and radiation in 2007.

During the same eight-year period, about 4 percent of patients treated with brachytherapy underwent a mastectomy in the following five years, compared to only 2.2 percent of those treated with whole breast irradiation. In addition, brachytherapy was associated with a higher rate of infections, rib fractures, fat necrosis and breast pain.

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New Breast Cancer Research Brings Mixed News

A new genetic test for breast cancer may help predict aggressive cases, while mammography proves to reduce deaths by half; however, a new study also shows that targeted raditation therapy increases the need for a mastectomy.

The latest breast cancer research reveals promise in detection methods and treatment, but also warns of the dangers of faster treatment options for those diagnosed with an early stage of the disease.

First, a new genetic test from Genomic Health can help predict aggressive cases of breast cancer, which could save countless women from undergoing unnecessary radiation. In addition, mammograms have been found to cut the disease by nearly half, while modern chemotherapy drugs have been shown to be cutting breast cancer deaths by about one-third. However, concerns have risen over the effectiveness and safety of a faster form of radiation therapy that is growing in popularity among women with early-stage breast cancer.

The study on the new gene test has just been released at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. According to lead researcher Lawrence Solin, chairman of radiation oncology at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, the test analyzes 12 genes found in breast cancer tumors, to aid in predicting those most likely to be an aggressive form requiring both surgery and radiation treatment, and tumors more likely to be slow-growing, which would require only the need to undergo surgery.

The use of the test could help more than 45,000 U.S. women annually who are diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, (DCIS), tumors confined to the milk ducts that could potentially spread into the remainder of the breast. These tumors are considered by some doctors to be very early-stage breast cancers, while regarded by others as precancers. Women at low risk could be spared having to undergo time-consuming radiation treatments that can burn the skin and cause damage to underlying heart and lung tissue.

The study found that while 11 percent of women with DCIS fell into the high-risk category, with about 19 percent developing an invasive form of breast cancer with a decade, another 75 percent fell into the low-risk category, among whom, only 5 percent developed an invasive cancer within 10 years. Genomic Health aims to have the test available by the end of the year.

Among other breast cancer research, a new Dutch study suggests that an ounce of pain is worth a pound of prevention when it comes to getting routine mammograms.

The study findings showed that women who regularly have mammograms cut their risk of death from breast cancer by almost half.

Regarding the study results, senior researcher Dr. Suzie Otto, of the department of public health at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands stated, “Our study adds further to the evidence that mammography screening unambiguously reduces breast cancer mortality.” She also noted that routine screening also reduced the likelihood of being diagnosed with an advanced cancer.

The study involved data on 755 patients who died from breast cancer between 1995 and 2003, as well as 3,739 control patients having similar age and other measures. Among those women with breast cancer, almost 30 percent of tumors were discovered at screening, while about 34 percent were found between screens. About 36 percent of these women had never had a mammogram.

Advanced tumors were found in about 30 percent of women having never been screened, compared to little more than 5 percent of those who were screened.

Overall, women who had routine mammograms cut their risk of death due to breast cancer by 49 percent. However, the reduction in risk among women aged 70 to 75 was much greater, coming in at 84 percent. For younger women between the ages of 50 and 69, the risk reduction was 39 percent. The study appears online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

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