Certain breast cancer patients 65 and older may be able to go without radiation therapy, new study suggests

In some older breast cancer patients, skipping radiation therapy after they’ve had surgery doesn’t appear to have a detrimental effect on their overall survival, according to a new study.

 

Skipping radiation after surgery may not affect overall survival for women 65 and older with small hormone-positive breast cancer tumors, provided that they receive five years of endocrine therapy, the study says. But it may be associated with a higher risk of cancer returning in the same breast.

 

The findings suggest that radiation – which can have side effects such as fatigue, breast pain, as well as the risk of heart and lung complications – may not be needed to extend overall survival among this group as long as they have endocrine therapy. Endocrine therapy – also called hormone therapy – involves adding, blocking or removing hormones as part of a treatment approach for certain conditions, including to slow or stop the growth of certain cancers.

 

Overall survival at 10 years was nearly identical in two groups of study participants: 80.8% without radiation therapy and 80.7% with it, the researchers found.

 

In the United States, 26% of breast cancer diagnoses are in women ages 65 to 74, according to the study.