Apr 4, 2009 8:25 am US/Eastern
A "Boost" Dose Of Radiation In Breast Cancer Care
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Many women who are diagnosed with early stage breast cancer often must decide whether to have a lumpectomy where only the cancerous tissue is removed, or opt for a mastectomy where the entire breast is removed.
A recent study found women who get an extra dose of radiation are twice as likely to remain cancer free.
When Judi Richards sits with her husband and plays with her little Bichon, Louie, one would never know the difficult times she has weathered.
"I previously had lung cancer and when they went in for that, they discovered the breast cancer totally unrelated to the lung cancer," recalled Judi Richards.
The idea of having a full mastectomy was daunting, since she already had surgery for her lung cancer.
Judi opted to have a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy, radiation and something her doctor called a boost of supplemental radiation.
Dr. Anne Lewis, a radiation oncologist, said "A boost of radiation is really a supplemental dose that's added to the end of therapy," adding, "when it comes to the part where we want to do the boost we treat the area of the breast that was treated with a lumpectomy, so that instead of treating the whole breast, were just treating a portion of it."
The belief is this will bring about a better cosmetic result though the question remains how effective is that boost of radiation.
Patients who are treated with standard radiation without a boost who are 40 and younger have about a 20% chance of a recurrence rate at 5 years. And those patients that have received a boost on top of the regular radiation dose, they have a 10 percent risk of recurrence at 5 years. So, in the 40 and younger group of women the study has shown that it cuts in half the risk of recurrence.
Judi decided to bet on those odds and she feels a winner, saying "Dr. Lewis told me that one of the great advantages of this is that they've found your chances of having the cancer return are about the same as if you had a full mastectomy. So that alone was a wonderful outcome from a therapy like this."
For more information on breast cancer, log on The Susan G. Komen For The Cure.
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