Effect of breast cancer surgery timing during the menstrual cycle on prognosis


The bottom line is that this was a prospective study where women could be accurately placed into a menstrual cycle category both by date of last menstrual cycle but also by hormonal levels.  There was no effect of operating in a particular phase of the cycle on 3-year survival.  The series was big enough to have detected a change of the magnitude proposed by Badwe in his papers.  Reasons why there may no longer be an effect include the use of drugs that have an effect on the menstrual cycle, use of LHrH agonists and more modern approaches to diagnosis and treatment. We conclude there is no reason to alter clinical practice.

 

 

Bibliographic Reference:

Thorpe H et al.: "Timing of breast cancer surgery in relation to menstrual cycle phase: no effect on 3-year prognosis: The ITS Study", Br J Cancer. 2007 Dec 18; [Epub ahead of print]

 

 

Richard Sainsbury

Clinical Trials Research Unit, Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK