According to the largest and most authoritative study yet conducted on the topic, radiation treatment during the early stages of breast cancer can greatly reduce the risk of dying from this disease.  In the past, women worried about radiation side effects and the treatment’s effectiveness.  According to lead researchers of this Oxford University study, evidence shows a clear benefit of having radiation to treat breast cancer. 

This study, to be published in the British medical journal The Lancet this week, studied 42,000 women in the early stages of breast cancer.  Women who underwent radiation after a lumpectomy or mastectomy were five percent less likely to die from breast cancer over the next 15 years. 

This is the first study of radiation breast cancer treatment to show an overall decrease in mortality. 

Breast cancer is diagnosed in over 211,000 American women every year.  This leading cancer killer claims the lives of 40,000 patients annually.