After Chest Radiation, Girls at Greater Risk for Early Breast Cancer: Study

MONDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) — Girls who receive radiation to the
chest to treat childhood cancer, even those getting lower doses, have a
high risk of developing breast cancer at a young age, according to a new
study.

Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York
City said the risk posed by radiation may be as great as that of the
BRCA1/2 mutation. Previously, it was thought that only moderate to high
doses of radiation raised breast cancer risk, but the new research showed
that even those who got low doses face an increased risk and may warrant
early screening for the disease.

“While radiation doses have decreased and techniques have improved,
radiation is still an essential part of therapy for many childhood
cancers,” said the study’s lead author, Chaya Moskowitz, an associate
member and associate attending biostatistician at the cancer center, in a
news release from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “The goal is
to maximize the cure rates for childhood cancer while minimizing future
health problems,” Moskowitz said.

The researchers examined information on 1,200 women in the Childhood
Cancer Survivor Study and 4,570 women who are first-degree relatives of
participants in the Women’s Environmental Cancer and Radiation
Epidemiology Study, which involved women diagnosed with breast cancer who
survived at least one year after diagnosis.

Among the childhood cancer survivors, 24 percent were diagnosed with
breast cancer by the time they were 50 years old. Moreover, 30 percent who
survived Hodgkin’s lymphoma developed breast cancer. In comparison, the
incidence of breast cancer by age 50 was 31 percent among the carriers of
a BRCA1 mutation.

The researchers said the roughly 50,000 women in the United States who
were treated with higher doses of radiation when they were younger should
get an annual mammogram and breast MRI either by the time they are 25
years old or eight years after their radiation therapy.

Another 7,000 to 9,000 women received lower-dose radiation to treat
childhood cancer, the researchers said. “Our results suggest that young
women treated with lower doses of radiation who are not currently being
screened also have an elevated risk of breast cancer and might benefit
from a similar screening strategy,” Moskowitz added.

Treatment with a lower dose of chest radiation reduced the incidence of
breast cancer to 7 percent by the age of 40 compared to 12 percent for the
women treated with higher doses of chest radiation, the researchers
found.

The study was scheduled for presentation Monday at the annual meeting
of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

Data and conclusions presented at medical meetings should be considered
preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute provides more information on breast cancer
risk
.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes