Younger Women at Higher Risk for Recurrence

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SandyinSoCal
SandyinSoCal Member Posts: 2,034
edited June 2014 in High Risk for Breast Cancer
Younger Women at Higher Risk for Recurrence
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  • SandyinSoCal
    SandyinSoCal Member Posts: 2,034
    edited April 2009
    BusinessWeek
     
    March 13, 2009
     
    FRIDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of breast cancer re-occurring is greater in women younger than 35 than it is in older women, especially if they opt for less radical treatment for the disease, a new study says.
     
    In analyzing treatment of 652 breast cancer patients over three decades, researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found that younger women had a better chance of avoiding a return of the disease if they had a mastectomy with adjuvant radiation rather than breast-conserving therapy or mastectomy alone. The findings were similar regardless of how advanced the cancer was.
     
    The study was published in the March 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics.
     
    "Locoregional recurrence after optimal breast cancer treatment in young women remains a significant problem," the study's lead author, Dr. Beth Beadle, a resident at M.D. Anderson, said in an American Society for Radiation Oncology news release. "Our study hopefully will help radiation oncologists plan therapies for younger breast cancer patients, who have inferior outcomes compared to older patients, and generate new interest in prospective studies to evaluate the best treatment strategies for these young women." 
     
    The researchers speculated that the reason younger women fare worse than older women with breast cancer is that the disease is biologically more aggressive in younger women.
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  • lexislove
    lexislove Member Posts: 2,645
    edited April 2009

    Thanks for posting!!!

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited April 2009

    It is generally believed that BC in younger women may be more aggressive and this is what causes the higher recurrence risk.  But a couple of other studies have shown that a solution to this may be boost-radiation, which significantly reduces recurrence rates among young women. While this approach obviously wouldn't make sense for women who are concerned about radiation and who would choose to have a mastectomy rather than have radiation, for others who prefer to not have a mastectomy, this is another option.  Here are two studies which showed the positive results of boost-radiation.  The first study was with women who had DCIS and the second study was with women who were Stage I and Stage II.

    Young women with DCIS, a common form of early breast cancer that arises in and is confined to the mammary ducts, are presumed more likely to have recurrences than older women with the same diagnosis. But a new study from Fox Chase Cancer Center rebuffs this conventional thinking.

    "We didn't find a significant difference in recurrence rates based on age," explains Turaka. "Our study suggests that when treating DCIS with breast-conserving surgery and radiation, very young age plays a smaller role as a contributor to local recurrence than previously suggested."  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/122994.php

    .

    Women 40 years and younger with early-stage breast cancer who receive an additional high dose of radiation (boost dose) after undergoing breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) and standard radiation treatment are almost twice as likely to be free of cancer 10 years after treatment compared to those who don't receive the boost dose, according to a large European study.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071029172926.htm

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