Chest Lymph Nodes Treatment Improves Survival and Less Side Effects

Radiation Therapy applied to the lymph nodes found above the collar bone and behind the breast bone can improve survival without having to suffer increased side effects. This was the result of new studies that seek to answer whether radiation therapy’s benefits were due to irradiation on the along the breast or just simply because cell’s are treated directly to the lymph nodes as well based on the 2013 ECC or European Cancer Congress. According to radiation oncologist Philip Poortmans, “our results make it clear that irradiating these lymph nodes give a better patient outcome than giving radiation therapy to the breast/thoracic wall alone. Not only have we shown that such treatment has a beneficial effect on locoregional disease control, but it also improves distant metastasis-free survival and over-all survival. Based on the researchers’ analysis, the process has a beneficial effect because of its ability to get rid of the tumors that are deposited on the lymph nodes.