- News
- Science News
- Fighting breast cancer without chemotherapy
This story is from May 14, 2006
Fighting breast cancer without chemotherapy
Doctors who treat women with breast cancer are glimpsing the possibility of a vastly different future.
After years of adding more and more to the regimen - more drugs, shorter intervals between chemotherapy sessions, higher doses, longer periods of a harsh therapy - they are now wondering whether many women could skip chemotherapy altogether.
If the new ideas, supported by a recent report, are validated by large studies like two that are just beginning, the treatment of breast cancer will markedly change.
Today, national guidelines call for giving chemotherapy to almost all of the nearly 200,000 women a year whose illness is diagnosed as breast cancer. In the new approach, chemotherapy would be mostly for the 30% of women whose breast cancer is not fuelled by estrogen.
So far the data are tantalising, but the evidence is very new and still in flux. And even if some women with hormone-dependent tumors can skip chemotherapy, no one can yet say for sure which women they might be.
Some doctors have already cut back on chemotherapy, but the advice a woman gets often depends on which doctor she sees. It could be a decade before the new studies - one American, one European - provide any answers.
"It's a slightly uncomfortable time," said Eric P Winer, who directs the breast oncology center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "Some of us feel like we have enough information to start backing off on chemotherapy in selected patients, and others are less convinced."
Among the less convinced is John H Glick, director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Glick tells his patients about the new data but does not suggest they skip chemotherapy.
After all, he notes, the national guidelines were based on results from large randomised clinical trials. And the recent data indicating that some women can skip chemotherapy are based on an after-the-fact analysis of selected clinical trials.
"We're in an era where evidence-based medicine should govern practice," Glick said. For women with breast cancer, of course, the uncertainty is excruciating. They are now confronted with differing opinions.
NYT News Service
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Hot Picks
TOP TRENDING
Popular Categories
Hot on the Web
Top Trends
IND vs BAN Live ScoreNEET UG CounsellingDolly ChaiwalaKamindu MendisMCC Weekdays Bash FightVince McMahon Netflix DocuseriesCaleb WilliamsHigh Paying Freelance JobsIsrael Hezbollah WarNEET UG Paper Leak CaseKerala Lottery ResultsTamil Nadu NEET UG CounsellingTirupati LadduWest Bengal Teacher RecruitmentSoudi Al Nadak IslandKerala Bans Study NotesLive Cricket Score
Trending Topics
Living and entertainment
Latest News
'It's been done 5 times already': Supriya Sule's jibe at PM Modi on Pune Metro inaugurationHC raps CCP for evicting 2 from fish mkt buildingTravis Kelce Shares His Excitement for His Acting Debut in Ryan Murphy’s Mystery Thriller GrotesquerieFirst person died in UK from ‘liquid’ Brazilian butt lift: All you need to know about liquid BBL and risks it posesNayanthara and Vignesh Shivan share emotional notes on their twins Ulag and Uyir's second birthdayIsraeli strikes kill 600, displace 90,000 as Lebanese civilians flee in DesperationNavya Naveli Nanda reacts to Kolkata rape-murder case, calls for accountability and safer spaces for womenArijit Singh apologizes to his female fan as the security guard held her neck during his UK concert: 'I could not protect you'World tourism day 2024: Recreate your favourite filmi moments at these localesSearching for synthetic opioid rescue agents: Identification of atoxifent as a potent opioid agonist with reduced respiratory depressionKrithi Shetty shares a sneak peek of her birthday celebration - SEE PICSSaif Ali Khan admits that the ‘Adipurush’ controversy was 'unsettling'; says “you need to stay away from religion...'Valpoi torrential rainfall sets record, crosses 200 inchesWeight loss and more: 5 reasons to eat soaked methi seeds every morningThere’s plastic in your chai-samosa, and India is No. 1 culpritOptical Illusion: Only a visually sharp person can spot the caterpillar on this treeWas tired of her atrocities, so killed her: Chilling details from diary of Bengaluru woman's murderer who chopped her into '59' piecesWhy are Nazca lines among the world's greatest mysteries?
Copyright © 2024 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service