Treatment may not make a difference for some breast cancer patients over age 70, supporting the de-escalation of treatment among older women, according to research published April 15 in JAMA Network Open.
The study, led by researchers from UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, involved more than 3,000 women over the age of 70 who were diagnosed with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer between 2010 and 2018. Researchers evaluated whether two treatment procedures, sentinel lymph node biopsy and radiotherapy, affected cancer recurrence or survival rates.
The number of sentinel lymph node biopsy and radiotherapy procedures remained high among patients in the study cohort, at 65.3 percent and 54.4 percent, respectively.
Findings showed cancer recurrence and survival rates remained the same, regardless of whether the patients received the treatments.
"As a breast surgeon, I want to give my patients the best chance of survival with the best quality of life," said Priscilla McAuliffe, MD, PhD, senior study author and surgical oncologist at UPMC. "However, we found that overtreatment of early-stage breast cancer in older patients may actually cause harm while not improving recurrence or survival rates."
To view the full study, click here.