Breast Cancer Recurrence More Likely in Young Patients

New research suggests that age is an important consideration when weighing breast cancer treatments. Breast cancer patients 35 years of age and younger have higher recurrence rates than older women with the same stage of cancer, and their risk of recurrence is greatly impacted by the type of treatment they received, according to a March 1 study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics.
 
“Locoregional recurrence after optimal breast cancer treatment in young women remains a significant problem,” says Beth Beadle, MD, PhD, a resident at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the lead author of the study. “Our study, hopefully, will help radiation oncologists plan therapies for younger breast cancer patients, who have inferior outcomes compared to older patients, and generate new interest in prospective studies to evaluate the best treatment strategies for these young women.”
 
Previous studies have shown that younger breast cancer patients consistently have poorer outcomes than patients who develop the disease later in life, which can translate into lower rates of overall survival. While the reason for this is not known, it is suggested that breast cancer in younger patients is more biologically aggressive. Researchers from M.D. Anderson sought to determine which form of breast cancer treatment—breast-conserving therapy, mastectomy alone, or mastectomy with adjuvant radiation—better benefits younger women with either Stage 1 or Stage 2 breast cancer.
 
A total of 652 young women with breast cancer from 1973 to 2006 were studied, with 197 of the patients having received breast-conserving therapy, 237 having received a mastectomy, and 234 having received mastectomy with adjuvant radiation. The study authors confirmed that younger breast cancer patients do have relatively high locoregional recurrence rates, but patients with Stage 2 disease achieved the best locoregional control rates with mastectomy plus adjuvant radiation therapy. Patients with Stage 1 disease had similar outcomes with breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy, but adding chemotherapy to either treatment was beneficial.
 
— Source: American Society for Radiation Oncology