Breast Cancer Patients May Be Getting Longer Radiation Treatments Than Needed

Recent findings published in the journal Cancer show that many elderly breast cancer patients over the age of 70 are still receiving more radiation than they should be.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center examined data on 40,583 women 70 and older between 2000 and 2004, comparing this information to other data gathered between 2005 and 2009.

Sixty-eight percent of patients underwent radiation therapy, while the number dropped by about 7 percent between 2005 and 2009.

Findings revealed that the type of radiation used for treatment improved from whole breast radiation when focusing on radiation treatment. Furthermore, the study results implied that the result of the 2004 study failed to fully influence doctors to change their practices.

"Our findings highlight the fact that it may be challenging for practitioners to incorporate clinical trial data that involves omitting a treatment that was previously considered standard of care," study author Dr. Rachel Blitzblau of Duke University, said in a news release. "If a treatment regimen has been working well, and data are new, there can be concern that de-escalation of treatment may ultimately be shown to worsen outcomes."

Findings revealed that about two-thirds of elderly patients with breast cancer are still receiving unnecessary radiation therapy, while others believe that some doctors might be hesitant about changing the standard practice due to lack of longer-term data.

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