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IMC-RT did not improve breast cancer survival after mastectomy
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51st ASTRO Annual Meeting
After mastectomy, women with breast cancer who underwent internal mammary chain radiation treatment demonstrated similar rates of survival as women who did not undergo this radiation treatment, according to the findings from a multicenter, 10-year trial.
“This is the first study that answers the question of whether there is a benefit of radiation treatment to the internal mammary chain lymph nodes in these patients,” said Pascale Romestaing, MD, radiation oncologist at Centre de Radiothérapie Mermoz in Lyon, France, during a press conference at the 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Researchers enrolled 1,334 women with newly diagnosed stage I or stage II breast cancer who had undergone mastectomy. All patients received radiation to the chest wall and supraclavicular lymph nodes. Half were assigned to specialized internal mammary chain radiation treatment (IMC-RT).
There were no significant differences in survival rates between the two groups: The group of patients assigned to IMC-RT had a survival rate of 63% compared with 60% for the group who was not assigned to IMC-RT.
Additionally, no differences were found for survival in subgroup analyses. Subgroup analyses included factors such as whether or not the cancer had spread to lymph nodes, where the original tumor was found and whether or not patients underwent chemotherapy or hormone therapy during radiation treatment.
“Our findings clearly show that [radiation] does not affect OS. These women still need radiation treatments — just not additional radiation to these specialized cells,” Romestaing said.
For more information:
- Romestaing P. #1. Presented at: 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting; Nov. 1-5, 2009; Chicago.
