Changing the sequence of breast cancer treatments can safely reduce the number of operations required, minimize treatment delays and improve patient satisfaction, according to results from a clinical trial.
Prior to mastectomy, the 49 women in the trial received chemotherapy as usual, and radiation therapy, which is typically not given until after the surgery. Mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction was performed at a median of 23 days after completing radiotherapy, according to a report published on Friday in JAMA Network Open.
Currently, women must heal from the mastectomy before undergoing six weeks of daily radiation treatments. Then they must wait 6-12 months before having breast reconstruction surgery, because radiation can cause complications with implants and flaps, making breast tissue contract and causing the breast to shrink. It can also damage the skin and underlying tissue.
With radiation therapy completed in advance in the study participants, everyone had successful reconstructive surgeries simultaneously with mastectomy, without any serious complications.
“We followed patients for about 2.5 years on average; we didn’t find any return of cancer in the original area or spread elsewhere in the body,” study leader Dr. Mark Schaverien of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said in an email. “This supports the oncological safety of this treatment approach.”
Study co-author Dr. Benjamin Smith, also of M.D. Anderson, said the approach “represents a significant breakthrough” for many patients.
“It allows women to swiftly resume their lives following breast cancer treatment, feeling and looking confident, without the need for prolonged delays before undergoing reconstructive surgery.”
The researchers are enrolling patients for a larger trial with the aim of confirming the benefits of the new approach.