Stronger Doses Fewer Administration for Breast Cancer

According to a research it was found that radiotherapy given in large dosage but in small amounts is very effective against breast cancer. The researchers from UK and US said that 13 larger doses were found to be effective in the recurrence of cancer when compared to the conventional regime of 25 small doses. The findings were as a result of the 10-year trial which was funded by the Cancer Research UK. They analysed 1,410 women and published their results in the journal Lancet Oncology. The research team consists of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the Gloucestershire Oncology Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research and the University of Wisconsin.

All the 1,410 women who participated in the study had a lumpectomy following treatment for early breast cancer followed by different radiotherapy treatments. The participants were divided into three groups. First group was given the standard treatment of 25 doses of radiation which amounts to 50 grays for a time period of five weeks. The second and the third groups were given 13 doses in the same time period but on received about 39 grays, and the other 42.9 grays. In the first group the risk of recurrence of breast cancer returning was 12.1%. In the group that received 39 grays it was 14.8%, and in the last it was 9.6%. The lead researcher Professor John Yarnold said that further research is necessary before confirming the strategy is more effective than the standard treatment in the long term.