Surgery Not Necessary In Some Early-Stage Breast Cancers, Study Says

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 31, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 31, 2025 -- Surgery might not be needed to treat as many as 60% of early-stage breast cancers, a new study says.

Breast cancers that have been completely wiped out by chemotherapy and radiation treatment are not likely to come back, according to a small-scale clinical trial published March 28 in JAMA Oncology.

The trial tracked 31 women whose breast cancer had been eliminated with chemo and radiation, without surgery.

All of the women remained alive and cancer-free five years following treatment, results show.

"The absence of detectable breast cancer recurrences at the five-year mark highlights the tremendous potential of this surgery-free approach to breast cancer management," said lead investigator Dr. Henry Kuerer, a professor of breast surgical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

"Our innovative, precise method of detecting cancer in these patients has successfully demonstrated that we can treat them while avoiding surgery for this group,” Kuerer added in a news release.

This is the first clinical trial to test whether women can forego surgery if their breast cancers respond to chemotherapy, researchers said.

For more than a century, surgery has been the standard treatment for breast cancer, but advances in chemotherapy have significantly increased their effectiveness in wiping out these tumors, researchers said.

Previous studies have shown that chemotherapy and radiation delivered before surgery to shrink tumors winds up completely eliminating up to 60% of breast cancers, researchers said in background notes.

That raised the question of whether surgery is needed at all in these cases, they said.

For the study, researchers recruited 50 women over age 40 who had early-stage breast cancer. After undergoing standard chemotherapy, all the women had a residual breast lesion smaller than two centimeters where their tumor had been.

The women underwent needle biopsy to see if the lesion contained any cancer cells. No cancer was found in any of the 31 women, and they did not receive surgery.

Those women went on to remain cancer-free for an average of 4.5 years, results show.

"These continued promising results suggest that eliminating breast surgery for invasive breast cancer could become the new standard of care, offering women the opportunity to preserve their bodies,” Kuerer said.

The clinical trial has since been expanded to 100 patients, and also is being investigated by South Korean cancer doctors, researchers said.

“While we are hopeful that this approach will become routine, further clinical trials are necessary before this is a standard therapy,” Kuerer said.

The findings were also presented Thursday at a meeting of the Society of Surgical Oncology in Tampa, Fla.

Sources

  • MD Anderson Cancer Center, news release, March 28, 2025: JAMA Oncology, March 27, 2025
  • Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

    Source: HealthDay

    Read more

    Disclaimer

    Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Drugslib.com is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Drugslib.com information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Drugslib.com does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Drugslib.com's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Drugslib.com's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners.

    The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Drugslib.com does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Drugslib.com provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

    Popular Keywords