8:34am Monday 8th February 2010
WOMEN with breast cancer could be spared unnecessary treatments after experts discovered fewer, larger doses of radiotherapy were just as effective in fighting the disease.
A lower overall course delivered as fewer, larger doses also resulted in fewer skin changes in a clinical trial.
Other side effects – such as hardness, swelling, sensitivity and pain and stiffness – were similar among women given the new treatment or the standard dose.
The international standard dose of radiotherapy is 50 grays (units of radiation) delivered in 25 fractions (treatments) over five weeks.
Experts at the Institute of Cancer Research conducted two trials to see if the overall dose could be lowered and given in fewer treatments without affecting the patient’s chances of a successful outcome.
In trial A, women received 39 grays or 41.6 grays in 13 fractions over five weeks.
Meanwhile, those in trial B received 40 grays in 15 fractions over three weeks.
The results for both trials showed tumours were kept under similar control when compared with women undergoing a standard treatment regime.
The study, which is published today in the journal The Lancet Oncology, was part of the Start trials involving 4,451 patients.
The trial was funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health.
Overall, about 40 per cent of more than 2,000 women questioned from the trial reported moderate or marked changes to the breast in the five years following their treatment.
All the women had had surgery for early-stage breast cancer and subsequent radiotherapy.
The most frequently reported adverse effects were breast hardness (41 per cent) and change in breast appearance (39 per cent).
Up to a third of patients also suffered arm and shoulder pain, which was linked with earlier treatment.
More than 45,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK and just under 12,000 die from the disease.
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