--Women with hereditary breast cancer in breast conserving therapy appear to have
no increased risk for recurrence in the treated breast, researchers said Monday.
Breast conserving therapy -- lumpectomy and radiation -- has been
demonstrated to be a safe, effective treatment for non-hereditary or sporadic
forms of early breast cancer. But for hereditary breast cancers, the use of BCT
is controversial due to conflicting data about increased risk of recurrence in
the treated breast and development of new tumors in the untreated breast.
Dr. Mark Robson and colleagues from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in
New York City followed 87 women diagnosed with breast cancer and BRCA mutations
who were treated with BCT to evaluate their long-term cancer risks.
Ten years after their initial diagnosis, 13.6 percent of the women with a
genetic mutation, or hereditary cancer, had experienced a recurrence similar to
previously published recurrence rates for women with non-hereditary breast
cancers treated with BCT.
The study will be published in the Jan. 1 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed
journal of the American Cancer Society
