Two studies reported Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine that many older women with early breast cancer can safely skip radiation after having a lump removed. In view of the findings, some doctors suggested that up to 40,000 women a year in the United States might consider skipping radiation. Many early tumors today are treated by lumpectomy, in which the lump instead of the entire breast is removed. The drug tamoxifen is also widely given to prevent the spread of cancer. Doctors also give radiation to most patients just to be safe, though research shows that the vast majority will not suffer a relapse anyway. Conclusions - As compared with tamoxifen alone, radiotherapy plus tamoxifen significantly reduces the risk of breast and axillary recurrence after lumpectomy in women over 50 with small, node-negative, hormone-receptor–positive breast cancers. - Lumpectomy plus adjuvant therapy with tamoxifen alone is a realistic choice for the treatment of women 70 years of age or older who have early, estrogen-receptor–positive breast cancer. Radiation acts to reduce LOCAL recurrence but does not necessarily effect survival overall. In older women, there was no difference in the risk of cancer spreading elsewhere in the body. And the relapse rate within the same breast in both patient groups combined was noticeably lower for women over 60 than for women in their 50s -- 3.5 percent compared with 6 percent. In the American study, 1 percent of women ages 70 or over had a relapse within the same breast with radiation, and just 4 percent without it -- a very slight risk, in the eyes of the researchers. Radiation does increase the risk of vascular problems including stroke, heart disease and thrombosis. Thanks to AP and cnn.com, 9/04 (excerpted with our comments) Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.