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Women
who had chest radiation for Hodgkin's disease when young are
often not aware that the treatment put them at increased risk
for developing breast cancer when they are older, according
to researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Many of
the Hodgkin's disease patients who do realize they are at
increased risk still neglect to have regular mammograms, according
to the study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"We
found that cancer physicians have an important role in educating
these young patients about their heightened risk for breast
cancer and about the potential importance of screening for
the disease," said Dr. Lisa Diller, lead author of the
study.
In a study
of 90 women who had been treated at least eight years earlier
with chest radiation for Hodgkin's disease, researchers found
that many of the women were not dealing with their increased
breast cancer risk.
Forty
percent of the women considered their breast cancer risk to
be equal to or lower than that of other women in their age
group. Only forty-seven percent of the women reported having
mammograms in the previous two years. Women who received information
from their cancer physicians were more likely to understand
their increased risk than women who received their information
from other sources.
"It's
important that caregivers not only be aware of the increased
breast cancer risk faced by these young patients, but that
they communicate this knowledge to patients, and communicate
as well that mammography might be an important intervention
that would catch the disease early," said Diller.
Source:
Breast Cancer
Week of April 28, 2002
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