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DG DISPATCH - ASTRO: Family History Not A Reason To Avoid Conserving Breast By Robert H. Carlson Special to DG News DALLAS, TX. -- November 8, 1999 -- A retrospective study of 146 women with early-stage breast cancer found that having a family history of breast or ovarian cancer did not affect the success of breast-conserving treatment. It has been suspected that some hereditary cancers are more aggressive in nature than tumors which start to grow spontaneously, and that the hereditary cases would therefore be more difficult to treat. Women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer are more likely to carry mutations which make them susceptible to either or both of those diseases. But in this study, the outcomes after treatment with lumpectomy and radiation for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) were approximately the same regardless of whether the woman had a family member who suffered from breast cancer or ovarian cancer. The study’s results were presented at the 41st annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, in San Antonio, TX., by Dr. Eleanor R. Harris, Instructor, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Harris, said the 146 women had breast-sparing lumpectomies (an operation which removes only the tumor and not the entire breast) and radiation for DCIS, an early stage in breast cancer when the tumor is still very localized and has not yet invaded other tissues. Dr. Harris said there were only slight, statistically-insignificant differences in how long the women survived after treatment, and in how long before the tumor returned if the treatment failed. Of the 28 women still living 10 years after treatment, 100 percent who had a positive family history of these diseases in a first-degree relative were still alive; 100 percent of the 27 women with positive family histories in relative besides a first-degree relative were still alive; and 94 percent of the 91 women with negative family histories were still alive. Dr. Harris said her study might help to change the policy at some medical institutions of excluding women from breast-conserving treatment if they have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version