Treatment could help cut cancer side ef fects

A BREAKTHROUGH new treatment for early stage breast cancer destroys the disease with fewer side effects than existing methods, trials show.

Targeting tumours directly with radiotherapy is as successful as treating the whole breast, the research led by Cambridge University found.

It means women could be treated just as effectively but experience fewer unwelcome changes to their breasts.

The treatment is easy to administer with existing radiotherapy machines available in NHS hospitals, meaning it would be simple to roll it out across the UK.

Experts welcomed the results as ‘a major step forward’ in improving quality of life for patients.

Professor Arnie Purushotham, Cancer Research UK’s senior clinical adviser, said: ‘One of the challenges when treating early stage breast cancer is trying to minimise the side effects that can have a real impact on a woman’s life, without affecting the chances of curing her.

‘This approach could spare many women significant physical discomfort and emotional distress.’

Professor Judith Bliss of the Institute of Cancer Research said: ‘We’re delighted that the results of this trial have the potential to lead to a real change in the way selected breast cancer patients are treated.

‘The technique used here can be carried out on standard radiotherapy machines so we anticipate that these results will lead to further uptake of this treatment at centres across the country and worldwide.’

Researchers at 30 radiotherapy centres across the UK – led by the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre – studied more than 2,000 women aged 50 or over who had early stage breast cancer with a low risk of the disease coming back.

After surgery, the women were randomly divided into three groups and either received radiation to the whole breast as normal, to a targeted part of the breast where the tumour was originally located, or to the whole breast at a lower dose.

The researchers found that after five years almost all the women across the groups survived and did not develop further cancer – but those who had received the targeted treatment reported fewer long-term changes to the look and feel of their breast.

Lead researcher Dr Charlotte Coles of Cambridge University said: ‘We started this trial because there was evidence that if someone’s cancer returns, it tends to do so close to the site of the original tumour, suggesting that some women receive unnecessary radiation to the whole breast.

‘Now we have evidence to support the use of less, but equally effective, radiotherapy for selected patients.’

The results from the trial are published in the journal The Lancet today. Researchers will next assess how the patients are doing ten years after surgery.

Dr Richard Berks of charity Breast Cancer Now said: ‘This is a great example of how cancer treatments can be tailored to reduce the impact of side effects, without compromising their effectiveness.’

‘A major step forward’