Breast cancer relapse still common after treatment

It is the main question on women’s minds after successful treatment for breast cancer. Will the disease come back?

New research finds relapse is still surprisingly common, even 15 years after a woman’s initial diagnosis.

Initial treatment for early-stage breast cancer focuses on getting rid of the tumor with surgery and radiation.

Often, women then receive extra, or so called adjuvant treatment to reduce the chances her cancer will return.

Options include chemotherapy and hormone suppressing treatments such as Tamoxifen or Arimidex.

However, even after all of these treatments, women still face a significant chance of relapse, according to new research.

Doctors studied more than 2,800 women treated for breast cancer.

Those treated with surgery, radiation, and adjuvant therapy still had a 1 in 5 chance of relapse in the 10 years after completing treatment.

Women who had larger, more advanced tumors had the greatest risk for recurrence.

Researchers say the continuing risk raises the possibility that some women could benefit from even longer treatments.

They also state that younger women need more options to reduce their chance of relapse.

Pre-menopausal women currently have no proven drugs to extend therapy beyond Tamoxifen, and they have many more years left to battle the disease.