Oncology may be making strides, with women possibly completing radiation treatments after breast cancer surgery in half the time if a new national study proves successful.
The study will follow 2,300 women, including about 100 at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., where the research is headquartered and directed, reports USA Today.
Participants receive a 50 percent higher-than-standard dose of radiation over three weeks following lumpectomy surgery. The usual course takes up to seven weeks.
Positive results could "have a major impact on where breast cancer treatment is going," said Dr. Frank Vicini, Beaumont's chief of oncology.
Women receiving the larger dose should be able to continue to drive and work, though "they may need a 20-minute power nap," he said, USA Today reports.
He said some women choose the more disfiguring mastectomy surgery over breast-sparing lumpectomy procedures because they want to avoid the radiation.
But with the option of fewer treatments, some might choose differently. Lumpectomy and radiation are the most common treatments for those with cancer found early.
Vicini, a national leader in breast cancer radiation options, designed the study and fought hard for three years to receive approval and funding, reports USA Today.
Now, in a process likely to take several years, Vicini will direct it, analyze the results and publish them, a process likely to take several years.
He hopes the study will persuade more women to choose the breast-sparing lumpectomy-and-radiation option over a full mastectomy, which does not involve subsequent radiation treatments.
He said more women might go the lumpectomy route if having fewer radiation treatments becomes an option.
An estimated 210,000 American women a year undergo lumpectomy surgery and six to seven weeks of radiation treatments, reports USA Today.
Vicini cited smaller studies abroad which have found that women tolerate the extra radiation well.
Some, he said, may develop skin redness like a mild-to-moderate sunburn that may peel and hurt for seven to 10 days.
The cost of conventional radiation is about $8,000, whereas shortened treatments will be about half that, he said, USA Today reports.
Women in the three-week treatment group will receive 270 rads of radiation, compared with 180 rads delivered with the conventional treatment.
Vicini said he expects to enrol about 2,300 women, including about 100 at Beaumont's three hospitals in metro Detroit, reports USA Today.
This year, an estimated 230,500 women nationwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer.
