Younger women and breast cancer – latest research

I debated posting this research as the aim of this blog is not to scare anyone, but to offer hope and evidence-based research on best practice.  However, the fact remains that re-occurence of breast cancer is something that we all have to be mindful of and we need to be aware of the ways in which we can maximise our chances of long term survival. There is no denying the fact that breast cancer  is biologically more aggressive in younger women. 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.

In analysing 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.

“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 study was published in the March 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation.

Source: MedicineNet.Com