Smaller breast tumors help explain better survival
|
|
The average breast tumor is smaller today than it was 25 years ago, probably because of earlier detection, and this accounts for a “substantial fraction” of the improvement in survival over the last 30 years, researchers report
“This study is important,” said Dr. Elena B. Elkin, “because it shows that if we don’t account for trends in the characteristics of newly diagnosed Breast cancers, such as the shift in tumor size, we may overestimate the impact of advances in treatment.”
That said, “there is no doubt” that some of the improvement in Breast cancer outcomes in recent decades “is due to advances in treatment,” added Elkin, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
To look into the contribution of changes over time in the size of newly diagnosed breast tumors—which is a strong predictor of prognosis—Elkin and her colleagues analyzed trends in breast tumor size between 1975 and 1999 using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registries.
The team reports their findings in the medical journal Cancer. “When we compared the 5-year breast cancer survival rate of women diagnosed in the late 1970s to the survival of women diagnosed in the late 1990s, 30 percent to 60 percent of the improvement in survival could be explained by differences in tumor size, depending on the stage at diagnosis,” Elkin said.
“We think that by considering these changing tumor size profiles, we can provide more refined estimates of where advances in Breast cancer therapy have had the greatest impact,” she added.
This information is especially important for health care researchers and policy-makers who monitor trends in cancer treatment and outcomes.
However, Elkin noted, “This study looks at trends in Breast cancer characteristics and outcomes at the population level. It does not say anything about what is best for an individual patient.”
SOURCE: Cancer, online August 8, 2005.
Print Version
Tell-a-Friend comments powered by Disqus
