New Canadian research from McMaster University in Hamilton suggested that an intense three-week course of radiation commonly practised across many cancer centres across Canada is just as effective and safe over the long term as the previously-standard five weeks of treatment.

Lead researcher Dr. Tim Whelan, a professor of oncology at McMaster University in Hamilton, says shorter radiation treatment times provide a number of benefits, not only in terms of savings to the health care system, but to women themselves.

In addition, the study revealed that women diagnosed with breast cancer who need radiation after breast cancer surgery do just as well with three rather than five weeks of treatment.

The study is reported to involve 1,234 women suffering from invasive breast cancer who had a lumpectomy. The surgery involves removing the cancerous lump and a small amount of normal tissue around it.

The women's health was carefully observed over 10 years. The study assisted researchers to discover that the risk for local recurrence of the cancer during that time was nearly the same in both groups: 6.7 per cent among the women given the standard treatment, while 6.2 per cent among those given the briefer treatment.

The probability of survival at the 10-year mark was also similar: 84.4 per cent for the standard group and 84.6 per cent for the accelerated group.