Breast cancer survivors: Radiation therapy was 'better than expected'

Nearly half of breast cancer patients are wary of undergoing radiation therapy. But, after the fact, a majority of women report their experiences were better than expected, according to a study published ahead of print in Cancer.

Research, co-led by Susan McCloskey, MD, MSHS, found that in a pool of more than 300 patients, 47 percent claimed they’d heard “frightening stories” about radiation therapy. Those stories aren’t unfounded, either—the American Cancer Society reported in 2017 that the treatment can suppress a woman’s immune system, cause nerve damage and chronic pain, and provoke lymphedema, among a host of other side effects.

“The word ‘radiation’ itself sounds frightening and is associated with many negative news stories, but the implications of this study are that, in actuality, radiation therapy for breast cancer is a much better treatment experience than perceived,” McCloskey said in a Wiley release.

McCloskey’s team surveyed 327 women for their research, all of whom had been treated for breast cancer between 2012 and 2016. Eighty-three percent of the population had undergone breast conservation therapies like lumpectomy and radiation therapy.

The researchers found more than two-thirds—68 percent—claimed to initially have had little to no knowledge about radiation therapy, though almost half admitted to being frightened of it. After treatment, they said, that changed.

According to McCloskey et al.’s research, just two percent of participants who took on radiation therapy said they still agreed with radiation horror stories after their own treatment. Ninety-two percent of patients who’d been treated with breast conservation and 81 percent of those who underwent mastectomy said they agreed with the statement, “If future patients knew the real truth about radiation hterapy, they would be less scared about treatment,” and around 80 percent of the total study cohort reported the severity their short- and long-term side effects were either what they expected or better.

“We hope these real-world data from the voices of past patients can give future patients a better understanding of modern breast radiation therapy when making treatment decisions,” McCloskey said.