Breast cancer patients often unaware of the facts about radiation

Breast cancer? Here's what they're not telling you

It’s October, the time of year when shopping centers and retailers bombard you with orange and black jack-o’-lanterns… the smell of pumpkin spice… and the color pink.

Yes, this is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month, that time of year when everything from cosmetics to handbags and shoes are awash in a rosy hue.

If you think this event seems to have been around forever, you’re right. However, it wasn’t started by some grassroots group, but rather drug giant AstraZenica over three decades ago!

As many have pointed out, October could just as easily be called “Breast Cancer Industry Month.”

But aside from all the “pink-washing” that smacks you in the face wherever you go, you need to be aware of this just-out study from researchers at the University of Michigan. They set out to investigate why so many breast cancer patients who should not be getting radiation are still being zapped with it.

And no pink ribbon is going to protect you from what they found.

When less is more

“In the last 30 to 40 years, we’ve learned the value of doing less.”

While that could apply to a whole lot of medical tests and procedures, Dr. Dean Shumway, professor of radiation oncology at Michigan Medicine, was specifically talking about the all-too-common practice of giving radiation to breast cancer patients over age 70.

The most current science is telling us that pushing older women into the full monty of breast cancer treatments isn’t prolonging their lives one iota.

In fact, it’s destroying their quality of life — as it subjects them to extreme exhaustion, swelling and pain in the breast, the buildup of lymph fluid in the arm, hand, or breast area (called lymphedema), and change in the size and color of the breast.

And, in many cases, it can bring on another cancer!

So, if radiation therapy doesn’t do a darn thing to improve or extend the life of an older woman with a small breast tumor, why so many are still getting it?

Armed with clinical trials to support his case, Dr. Shumway surveyed close to 900 surgeons and over 700 radiation oncologists and found that changing a doctor’s mind about pretty much anything is like teaching an old dog new tricks.

For example:

Up to 40 percent of surgeons were “uncomfortable” with not rushing a woman into radiation after a lumpectomy. For radiologists, the figure was a little better — only 20 percent felt they were neglecting patients by not setting up a radiation schedule. But, as the researchers pointed out, your surgeon has the biggest influence over your treatment decisions.
The doctors who thought radiation was a vital part of breast cancer treatments considered omitting it to be an “unreasonable option.” And that was the case even for an imaginary patient in poor health in her 80s with a small breast tumor.
Doctors appear to be pinning the blame on patients, saying that they are the ones who want the most aggressive treatments, even if they’re told the benefits are minimal. But that turns out to be a very big “if” — because the doctors surveyed also said that “it takes more effort” to tell patients they don’t need radiation than it does to sign them up for it.

Truth be told, I’m sure that most women would not opt for radiation after being informed of its side effects and supposed benefits. But even if your doc bothers to bring it up, how much can he really tell you during a skimpy 15-minute visit?

That’s why it’s up to every breast cancer patient to speak up, ask questions, and get a second or even third opinion when necessary.

And if you’re walking or running to honor a friend or loved one — or even because of your own personal battle — remember, sometimes it’s less a “race for the cure” and more a matter of stopping to be aware of what the best treatments truly are.

“Patients don’t need radiation. Why are they still getting it?” Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, October 6, 2017, newswise.com