ASTRO: Smoking Cessation Confers Survival Advantage for Breast Cancer Patients By Charlene Laino Women who continue to smoke while undergoing breast conservation and radiation therapy are more than twice as likely to die as non-smokers and patients who quit, a new study suggests. Khanh H. Nguyen, MD, a radiation oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, presented the findings here on October 20th at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO). "While smoking is a putative risk factor for developing breast cancer, its impact on treatment results has been uncertain," Dr. Nguyen said. To examine the association between smoking and long-term outcomes of breast cancer patients, the researchers studied 1,039 non-smokers and 861 smokers who were treated with breast conservation and radiation therapy at Fox Chase between 1970 and 2002. Seventy-five of the women continued to smoke during radiation therapy. Patient characteristics, including age, race, menopausal status, T stage, nodal status, margin status, estrogen receptor status, radiation dose and use of chemotherapy were similar in both groups. However, tamoxifen use was higher among smokers: 42% versus 38% for nonsmokers (p=0.0485). At a median follow-up of 65 to 67 months, multivariate analysis showed that smoking, either past or current, was neither protective nor detrimental with respect to ipsilateral and contralateral breast tumor recurrences, secondary cancers, distant metastases and cause-specific survival rates. However, women who continued to smoke during radiation therapy were 2.6 times more likely to die than those who quit or never smoked (p=0.0164), the study showed. "Women undergoing breast cancer therapy should consider smoking cessation to improve their chance if survival," Dr. Nguyen said. "Physicians and support staff should encourage and assist patients in this challenging ordeal." Thanks to docguide.com 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.