Cancer trial opens way to easier treatment

WOMEN with breast cancer could be spared unnecessary treatments after experts discovered fewer, larger, doses were just as effective in battling the disease.

A lower overall course of radiotherapy delivered as fewer, larger, doses also resulted in fewer skin changes in a clinical trial. Other side effects – such as hardness, swelling, sensitivity and pain and stiffness – were similar among women given the new treatment regime or the standard dose.

The international standard dose of radiotherapy is 50 grays delivered in 25 fractions (treatments) over five weeks.

Experts at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) conducted two trials to see if the overall dose could be lowered and given in fewer treatments without affecting the patient's chances of a successful outcome. In trial A, women received 39 grays or 41.6 grays in 13 fractions over five weeks. Those in trial B received 40 grays in 15 fractions over three weeks.

The results for both trials showed tumours were kept under similar control when compared with women undergoing a standard treatment regime.

The study, which was published in the Lancet Oncology, was part of the Start trials involving 4,451 patients. It was funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health. About 40 per cent of more than 2,000 women questioned reported moderate or marked changes to the breast in the five years after treatment. All had had surgery and radiotherapy for early-stage breast cancer.

Kate Law, director of clinical research at Cancer Research UK, said: "Fewer doses of radiotherapy that are just as effective as the standard treatment, and don't increase the side effects, will have a big impact for patients, especially as it means fewer visits to hospital."