Post-surgical radiation treatment increases risk of recurrence of breast cancer

Thursday May 14, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study out of the Netherlands has found that women aged 45 and younger who receive radiation after a lumpectomy have a greater chance of developing cancer in the other breast (referred to as contra-lateral recurrence).

The study focused on women who had radiation treatment after surgery from 1970-1986; all of the women had breast cancer before the age of 71. In general, the rate of contra-lateral recurrence was 3-4 times higher than the rate of new breast cancer cases.

Age appears to be the operative “x” factor. In studying the women, researchers from Erasmus Medical Center Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center in Rotterdam discovered that those who were under the age of 45 when they received radiation treatment were 9% more likely to have contra-lateral recurrence, while in women under 35, the risk jumps radically to 78%.

Another factor that seems to influence post-treatment cancer is whether or not a woman undergoes a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. Women who received radiation post-lumpectomy were 1.5% more likely to experience recurrence in the other breast than were those who underwent a mastectomy.

The New York Times reports that radiation treatment surged dramatically after the results of a study in Denmark were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997. According to that particular study, radiation treatment reduced a woman’s risk for recurrence by 2/3. However, that study focused on post-menopausal women only; again, age appears to be a critical factor.

Whether or not a woman is genetically predisposed is also relevant; those who had three or more family members who had breast cancer were more likely to have a recurrence if an environment risk factor (in this case, radiation treatment) was also involved.

(By Rachel Stockton, and edited by Heather Kelley)