A new Canadian study finds that breast cancer recurrence rates dropped by half or more between the 1980s and the first decade of this century thanks to improved treatment methods and increased testing.
Dr. Karen Gilmon, from the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada, who led the study team, said that analysis of data on breast cancer patients in Canada provides confirmation that the chances of surviving the disease are increasing.
A previous study published in the 1990s and based on data between 1978 and 1988 found that women with breast cancers that feed on estrogen (known as estrogen receptor cancer) face the risk of the disease returning over time.
In the study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jalimon’s team compared data on 7,178 women who received treatment after suffering moderate cases of breast cancer during two periods.
The new analysis showed that there is a high probability of the cancer returning within the first five years among women with cancers that were not caused by estrogen, but the risk of the disease returning among those who received treatment in the first decade of the 21st century was lower.
The study did not determine the reason for the decreased risk of the disease returning, but researchers say this is mostly due to tests that successfully detect the disease in its early stages, as well as more “effective and comprehensive treatments” targeting specific types of cancer.
