Radiation therapy or not

random_monkey · September 2017

Hi all, this is my first post in this forum, I hope I am placing the topic under the right section. Just a small introduction, I am writing in regards to my wife's condition and the personal details based out of my wife's condition as well.

Her post-surgery lab result shows that there were 19mm of tumor (from the previous 27mm along with 2 positive lymph nodes (1.9mm and 2.3mm).

I wonder if anyone may share their view on radiation therapy. So far, my understanding (from google) is that she falls in a grey area where the effectiveness of the radiation therapy almost balance the potential long term side effect (lung cancer and heart problem).

** she is not a smoker.

I will also appreciate if anyone may share their experience on side effect and lymphedema.

Mucki1991 · September 2017

I had those same concerns I was reassured that technology has come a long way and the risk of damage to heart and lungs is much lower. Think of it this way chemo kills distance and radiation kills local. Good luck on your wife's treatment

random_monkey · September 2017

@Mucki1991 Thank you for reply. Indeed I was reading through the reports from different trials and note that they are usually follow up since 10-15 years ago. Unfortunately there just isn't enough data on the new technology that gives us the confident to go for it.

ruthbru · September 2017

I'm over 10 years out. Radiation on left side; no problems then or now. No recurrence of cancer either. Since she has lymph node involvement, you know the horse is already out of the barn. You should concentrate on getting rid of every drop of cancer, which you know she has now, instead of concentrating on the rare (rare because technology has very much pin-pointed the treatments) side effects which may or may not occur later. Don't google your answers. The main page here has good information, The American Cancer Society, Mayo Clinic's website, John Hopkins....stick to reputable sources; but most of all, get an oncology team that you trust and can work with, and then FOLLOW their recommendations.

gb2115 · September 2017

I guess what it comes down to is your wife needs to decide what level of risk is worth it to her. I had a lumpectomy plus a positive lymph node, so there was really no avoiding radiation for me. 7 months out I have some shoulder stiffness and pain coming from the lymph node area near the shoulder that they radiated, that comes and goes (mild, not enough to medicate). There was dermatitis during treatment, for sure. Skin problems are common but they usually heal. Mine did and required dermatological care. But it healed. However, that said, having already experienced radiation I would do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant improving the likelihood of the cancer not returning--especially with that positive lymph node. For me, having been through cancer once already, it's recurrence would be my worst case scenario and one I would like to do anything to avoid. So I deal with the shoulder pain. I think it was worth it, but that's my opinion from my experience.

Good luck---it's hard enough to be going through cancer let alone having to be forced to make treatment decisions without being able to see the future!

Castigame · September 2017

You have enough information already.

I would like to add my two cents if rads will be done

Try to find newly established rad place. New ones tend to have newer and more sophisticated rad machine. I happen to find less than 2 yr old place and boy the machine was like a fancy calculator that more than 2 mm diff mattered. It was called TrueBeam

I found out newer rad place is better when I was rerouted to a local hospital within the same chain.This was a big hospital but they had older style machine.

You have to be strong and god will look after your wife.

Mimi

random_monkey · September 2017

As much as we have a lot of trust on her oncologist, we can't say the same for the entire radiotherapy department. Almost every single of them gave us the impression that they were hard-selling the treatment without knowing what they were selling. Separately we also booked an appointment with another radiation oncology to seek for second opinion. Indeed, we just have find that someone that gives us confidence.

So far, we were told that she has 2% of increased chance of lung cancer, 2% more for heart problem in return for 5-10% improvement 10 years OS. The statistics does not differentiate the number of nodes which I am not entirely convinced after much googling as I found most of them do. Hopefully the second opinion gives us the much needed faith on the treatment.

Thank you everyone for sharing their experience on radiotherapy. We will also ask more about their radiation device

marijen · September 2017

News

Reduced radiotherapy is as effective as whole breast treatment for early breast cancer, study finds

BMJ 2017; 358 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j3759 (Published 04 August 2017)Cite this as: BMJ 2017;358:j3759

Susan Mayor

Author affiliations

Targeting radiotherapy to the original tumour site or using a reduced dose to treat the whole breast is associated with a similarly low rate of local relapse as standard radiotherapy to the whole breast and fewer long term adverse effects in women treated for early breast cancer, a large randomised UK trial has found.1

Breast radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery halves the risk of recurrence of the cancer in patients with early breast cancer. Whole breast radiotherapy is the current standard of care in the UK, as well …

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Radiation therapy or not

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Reduced radiotherapy is as effective as whole breast treatment for early breast cancer, study finds

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