Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer

Facts About Breast Cancer

• This year, 190,000 women and 2,000 men will learn they have breast cancer.
• Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in American women, according to the American Cancer Society.
• Another 68,000 women will learn they have noninvasive (also called in situ) breast cancer.
• Breast cancer is often cured by timely application of appropriate treatment that may involve surgery, drug therapy, radiation therapy, or a combination of these.
• However, breast cancer is not always cured: it may spread elsewhere in the body and can prove fatal. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women, exceeded only by lung cancer.

ASTRO Response to Revised Screening Guidelines

The United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued two separate screening recommendations for women in 2009.

Specifically, the USPSTF recommendations suggest women aged 40 to 49 without risk factors can avoid yearly mammography screenings for breast cancer until age 50. The ACOG guidelines advise that women can begin receiving Pap tests to look for cervical cancer starting at age 21 and then be screened every other year until age 30, at which time women should receive the test every three years.

ASTRO is a society of radiation oncologists who use X-ray technology to treat cancer rather than diagnose it. As an organization, we intend to work with our diagnostic radiology colleagues to look closely at the latest screening guidelines and issue a statement of our findings, if necessary.

In the meantime, we believe that women of every age should talk to their doctors about when and how often they should undergo screening tests, including the Pap test and mammography, as well as other screening tests like the colonoscopy to look for colon and rectal cancers. Your doctor is the best person to help you make these decisions.

We encourage women to ask their primary care physician the following questions:

• Based on my general health and family history, should I receive screening tests, such as mammograms for breast cancer, the Pap test for cervical cancer and the colonoscopy for colon and rectal cancers?
• How will screening benefit me?
• Are there any risks to these screenings?
• Where can I get screened?
• How are these screenings performed?
• When and how will I learn the results?
• Who will explain the results to me?
• Is there anything I can do to lower my risks of cancer?
• Based on my health and family history, would you recommend other screenings?