Research shows that a super-cocktail of chemotherapy drugs used on New Zealand breast cancer patients is saving lives.
Studies in Britain show the use of a potent chemotherapy drug called epirubicin can cut death rates by almost one third.
Epirubicin is routinely used in combination with three other drugs to fight breast cancer but a five year study shows it is a vital component in the cocktail and cut death rates in a major trial by 30%.
"That's a staggering reduction in the risk of death. We will often see perhaps 15-20% reductions in the risk of the events happening but this was a particularly large effect," says Dr Lucinda Bellingham from the University of Birmingham.
Nearly 2,500 women from 75 British hospitals took part in five year trial.
Chemotherapy is given to women with breast cancer after surgery and radiotherapy to mop up any molecules of cancer that may have spread to other organs.
Doctors say this trial exposed the fact that many British women were not being treated with the right dose of chemotherapy to maximise their chances of survival. They say those dosage issues are now clearer and the study has established epirubicin's place in standard chemo treatment.
New Zealand oncologists say epirubicin has been used routinely for women with early breast cancer for the past two or three years and is standard treatment for high risk women. They say they will be looking closely at the study to confirm if patents here are getting the best possible treatment.
