The study examines the influence of smoking on long-term outcomes of patients with breast cancer treated with breast-conservation therapy. The study evaluated 1,039 non-smokers and 861 smokers who were treated with conservation therapy at Fox Chase from March 1970 to December 2002. The median follow-up of these patients was 67 months. The analysis compared local control, distant metastases, deaths from breast cancer and overall survival in smokers and non-smokers "This analysis shows that smoking, either past or present, was associated with increases in distant metastases and deaths from breast cancer," said Nguyen. "Even after we adjusted for different prognostic factors, those who continued to smoke during treatment did not live as long as those who had stopped.
"Our study suggests that smoking cessation remains an integral component in the comprehensive management of breast cancer," Nguyen added. Other study authors include Gary M. Freedman, M.D., Alexandra L. Hanlon, Ph.D., Nicos Nicolaou, M.D., and Penny R. Anderson, M.D., of Fox Chase Cancer Center's department of radiation oncology.
Fox Chase Cancer Center, one of the nation's first comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute in 1974, conducts basic, clinical, population and translational research; programs of prevention, detection and treatment of cancer; and community outreach. For more information about Fox Chase activities, visit the Center's web site at www.fccc.edu or call 1-888-FOX CHASE.