A new Dutch study suggests that younger women who have survived breast cancer may have 3 to 4 times the risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast as a consequence of radiation therapy. Women treated with radiation before they turned 45 had a slightly increased risk of a new tumor in the other breast, while women receiving radiation before they were 35 had a 78% increased risk. It is as yet unclear why this is the case. Radiation therapy is usually used after a lumpectomy to destroy any remaining cancer cells that were not removed by surgery. Today’s radiotherapy techniques aim to reduce the amount of radiation delivered to the remaining breast.
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Tags: breast cancer, Cancer, lumpectomy, radiation, women
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.