DirecTV satellite launched from Pacific

The Associated Press

The Boeing-built DirecTV 11 satellite will join another already in orbit to create a capacity of 150 national high-definition channels and 1,500 local high-definition channels, Sea Launch said.

The satellite lifted off at 3:48 p.m. PDT and later successfully separated from the Zenit-3SL rocket's second stage, spokeswoman Paula Korn said in a Webcast of the launch.

First contact through a ground station in South Africa was not expected for several hours. The satellite will eventually be positioned in a geostationary orbit 22,236 miles above the Earth.

Women with breast cancer 'could benefit from shorter bursts of radiotherapy'

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There are more than 44,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year

Women with early breast cancer can benefit from fewer 'draining' radiotherapy treatments, lowering the risk of long-term side effects.

A major study suggests giving higher doses of radiotherapy but cutting down on their number provides results that are 'at least as good' as the standard regime.

Women with breast cancer in the early stages would need to make fewer hospital visits in the future if the slimmed down therapy programme was universally adopted.

Findings from British researchers carrying out 10-years of research involving nearly 4,500 women with early breast cancer are published today in The Lancet and The Lancet Oncology.

Many cancer specialists in the UK have been using shorter treatment schedules for some time but the latest evidence will confirm the efficacy of the approach.

In trials, jointly funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health, just under half the women received the international standard of radiotherapy which involves 25 treatments, carried out five times a week over five weeks.

The remainder received around 20 per cent lower dose of radiation on 13 different occasions in either three or five weeks.

Researchers then compared the rate of cancer recurrence in the treated breast along with the effects of the treatment on surrounding healthy breast tissue.

After an average follow-up of five to six years, the rate of recurrence in the breast remained very low for patients in each of the treatment groups studied.

Overall, there was a low rate of side effects such as swelling, breast shrinkage and hardening of healthy tissue, and a slightly lower rate of 'late adverse effects' in women receiving shorter treatments.

Lead researcher Professor John Yarnold, from The Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: "The results suggest that a high total dose given in 25 small treatments is no better than simpler schedules using fewer exposures to a lower total dose.

"Shorter therapies giving fewer, larger treatments are obviously convenient for patients."

Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK director of cancer information, said: "Cancer treatment disrupts the lives of patients and their families for many weeks at a time so this is a really positive result.

"Fewer doses of radiotherapy that don't increase side-effects while providing the same benefits means less time at hospital and more time at home."

Dr Alexis Willett of Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity said: "Women tell us that attending numerous radiotherapy sessions at hospital can be both physically and emotionally draining and significantly impact on their every day life.

"Research into innovative ways of giving treatment that can safely improve patients' quality of life, and be as effective as the current standard, is to be welcomed."

But campaigners warned that hundreds of breast cancer patients are being harmed by too-high doses of radiotherapy which the study fails to recognise.

RAGE (Radiotherapy Action Group Exposure) set up in 1991 claimed the new trials did not measure serious peripheral damage to the heart, chest muscles and lungs caused by bigger but fewer doses of radiation.

David Bainbridge of RAGE, whose wife suffered irreparable damage to her arm 10 years ago, said the study looked at cosmetic tissue damage only.

He said: "The follow-up lasted just six years and did not make systematic use of scans or X-rays, relying instead on photographs and self-assessment.

"Other countries including the US, still use the international standard of lower doses.

"We're concerned the shortage of radiotherapy capacity in the NHS is driving increasing radiation doses - we have women ringing us every week to report damage caused by treatment."

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