A highly effective treatment for early stage breast cancer is a shorter, more intense course of radiation therapy, say researchers as compared to the conventional drawn out one currently used. A team of Canadian researchers, led by Dr. Tim Whelan of McMaster University in Toronto, said that by increasing the dosage and reducing the treatment time from five weeks to three, not only has the same lifesaving benefits but it saves the patients two thirds of the money.

Details about the new shorter treatment which is called accelerated hypofractionated whole breast irradiation, were presented by Whelan at a meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Boston."There has been renewed interest in hypofractioned whole breast irradiation due to the potential radiation advantages, patient convenience, quality of life and lower costs," said Whelan.

Whelan and his team of researchers tested the new technique on 1,200 women who were randomly assigned to either accelerated radiation treatment or standard therapy over a 12 year period. This new approach requires three weeks of daily, 15-minute visits compared to five weeks of standard therapy and as a result of the shorter duration it cost two-thirds as much.

As far as cancer recurrence goes, researchers found that the cancer had returned in 6.2 % of patients treated with accelerated radiation therapy, compared to 6.7 % of patients given standard therapy after 10 to 12 years."We were surprised that the risk of local recurrence and side effects for women treated with accelerated whole breast irradiation was so low even at 12 years," said Whelan.

In the cases where the breast cancer had not spread far, a lumpectomy can be performed where only the tumor and surrounding tissue are removed saving most of the breast. A course of daily radiation therapy follows to kill any remaining cancer cells. There are some centers in the United States that offer the shorter therapy course to selected patients though this is more common in Canada and Europe.

Sandi Kafenbaum, counseling coordinator at the Adelphi, New York Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline & Support Program in Garden City, was of the opinion that a shorter course of radiation therapy offers a range of improvements over current therapy."If it is borne out that it is equal to the longer treatment, then it is a plus for women," Kafenbaum said. "I've seen something similar happen with chemotherapy over the years, which went from longer treatment time to less and more targeted therapy. So if less is equal to longer treatment, then this could be better for women emotionally, helping them to be finished with treatment sooner."

At the meeting a second study was presented by Dr. Peter Beitsch and colleagues at Medical City Dallas Hospital in Texas who tested an approach called accelerated partial breast irradiation.

In this procedure, tiny radioactive "seeds" were implanted in the region after a tumor has been removed. The treatment was tested on 400 women who were followed for four years and the treatment worked as well as standard radiation.

"Not only does it make radiation treatment much more convenient, it may actually increase the rate of breast conservation, since some women choose mastectomy because they live too far from a radiation center and cannot afford the time and expense of six to seven weeks of living or traveling to the center," Beitsch said in a statement.

The American Cancer Society, estimated that breast cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths among women world wide resulted in 465,000 women dying from it globally in 2007.