At this year s annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, Dr. Rahul Tendulkar of the Cleveland Clinic presented important data on the efficacy of radiation therapy following a mastectomy in breast cancer patients with only a few (one to three) positive lymph nodes. Previous studies on using radiation post-mastectomy on women who had four or more positive nodes yielded positive results, yet research on whether the treatment would be effective in women with fewer positive nodes was absent until now.
Dr. Tendulkar and his colleagues retrospectively analyzed the records of 369 women treated at Cleveland Clinic between 2000 and 2007 and found that 98 of these patients underwent post-mastectomy radiation, while the remainder did not. After 5.5 years of follow-up, none of the women who underwent radiation experienced a recurrence in cancer, while 9 percent of those who did not have radiation experienced a relapse.
Since breast cancer affects approximately 200,000 women every year, these findings are very important and relevant, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.
ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava adds that this is important information that any woman undergoing a mastectomy should understand. One hopes that surgeons will apprise the patients for whom the results of this study are relevant.