Many Breast Cancer Patients Receive Unnecessarily Long Courses of Radiation

Sources: Penn Medicine News, The New York Times, Time, USA Today, NBC News, December 10, 2014 A study published in JAMA authored by researchers Justin Bekelman and Zeke Emanuel found that two-thirds of women treated for early-stage breast cancer in the U.S. receive longer radiation therapy than necessary. The vast majority of women who undergo lumpectomies receive six to seven weeks of radiation therapy, despite multiple randomized trials and professional society guidelines showing that three weeks of radiation is just as clinically effective, more convenient, and less costly.