ArticleBreast cancer research and treatment2023
Is de-escalation of treatment by omission of radiotherapy associated with fear of cancer recurrence in women with early breast cancer? An exploratory study.
Article in Breast cancer research and treatment, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- ASBrS Keynote Address: Reimagining Stage 1 Breast Cancer-Evolution of Breast Cancer Management over the Last 120 Years.Annals of surgical oncology · 2025Article
- Patient and Family Caregiver Perspectives on Therapy De-Escalation in Cancer: A Scoping Review.Psycho-oncology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeSafe de-intensification of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) for early breast cancer (BC) is currently under evaluation. Little is known about the patient experience of de-escalation or its association with fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), a key issue in survivorship. We conducted a cross-sectional study to explore this association.
methodsPsychometrically validated measures including the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory-Short Form were completed by three groups of women with early BC: Women in the PROSPECT clinical trial who underwent pre-surgical MRI and omitted RT (A), women who underwent pre-surgical MRI and received RT (B); and women who received usual care (no MRI, received RT; C). Between group differences were analysed with non-parametric tests. A subset from each group participated in a semi-structured interview. These data (n = 44) were analysed with directed content analysis.
resultsQuestionnaires from 400 women were analysed. Significantly lower FCR was observed in Group A (n = 125) than in Group B (n = 102; p = .002) or Group C (n = 173; p = .001), and when participants were categorized by RT status (omitted RT vs received RT; p < .001). The proportion of women with normal FCR was significantly (p < .05) larger in Group A (62%) than in Group B (35%) or Group C (40%). Two qualitative themes emerged: 'What I had was best' and 'Coping with FCR'.
conclusionsOmitting RT in the setting of the PROSPECT trial was not associated with higher FCR than receiving RT. Positive perceptions about tailored care, lower treatment burden, and trust in clinicians appear to be protective against FCR.
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