Associate Professor Jacqueline Drouin Examines Side Effects of Breast Cancer Treatments

While methods for treating cancer are constantly improving, the subtle long-term side effects of these treatments may not become evident until years after their development. Associate Professor Jacqueline Drouin, of the School of Health Sciences, recently conducted an extensive review of the medical literature to examine side effects of breast cancer treatments, such as axillary lymph node dissection and radiotherapy. Drouin and her collaborator published their findings in the July 2009 issue of the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (Magnitude of late effects of breast cancer treatments on shoulder function: a systematic review, Volume 116, Pages 1-15). They conclude that "there is sufficient evidence of late effects of [axillary lymph node dissection] or radiotherapy post-breast cancer to warrant careful attention to shoulder function across time in individuals who have had breast cancer."