Hi Cheryl - The ultimate decision on what to do is yours, of course. Have you had the chance to discuss this with your oncologist, or were you just told that there was only one course of treatment for you?
Radiation treatment after surgery has been shown to cut the chance of recurrence in half, according to the National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/DCIS0309
Radiation therapy is also used to destroy any DCIS that may still remain: http://www.dcis.info/treatment-radiation.html
Others have had the same questions as you, and an extensive study was done in Europe to compare the results of patients treated with and without radiation therapy. The EORTC trial randomly allocated over 1,000 women with DCIS treated with lumpectomy to receive radiation therapy or no further therapy. Follow-up of this study was over 10 years. The 10-year relapse-free survival was 74% for women treated with excision only, and 85% for those treated with additional radiotherapy. You can learn more here: http://professional.cancerconsultants.com/oncology_main_news.aspx?id=37650
I hope you also hear from other DCIS women, but in the meantime this information will help provide some data to use in making your decision. Will you let us know if this helps?
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Hi Cheryl - The ultimate decision on what to do is yours, of course. Have you had the chance to discuss this with your oncologist, or were you just told that there was only one course of treatment for you?
Radiation treatment after surgery has been shown to cut the chance of recurrence in half, according to the National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/DCIS0309
Radiation therapy is also used to destroy any DCIS that may still remain: http://www.dcis.info/treatment-radiation.html
Others have had the same questions as you, and an extensive study was done in Europe to compare the results of patients treated with and without radiation therapy. The EORTC trial randomly allocated over 1,000 women with DCIS treated with lumpectomy to receive radiation therapy or no further therapy. Follow-up of this study was over 10 years. The 10-year relapse-free survival was 74% for women treated with excision only, and 85% for those treated with additional radiotherapy. You can learn more here: http://professional.cancerconsultants.com/oncology_main_news.aspx?id=37650
I hope you also hear from other DCIS women, but in the meantime this information will help provide some data to use in making your decision. Will you let us know if this helps?
Take care, Pat
June 15, 2010 - 5:39pmThis Comment
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