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Incidence of radiation fibrosis after use of a standardized technique of radiotherapy for breast cancer
Author(s) -
Greenberg Harry B.,
Jacobs Sydney
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(196609)19:9<1289::aid-cncr2820190916>3.0.co;2-7
Subject(s) - medicine , radiation therapy , breast cancer , autopsy , radiology , fibrosis , lung cancer , cancer , lung , incidence (geometry) , pulmonary fibrosis , physics , optics
To determine whether the use of a standardized technique of radiotherapy for breast cancer was followed by roentgenographic evidence of pulmonary fibrosis, a survey was made of the serial chest roentgenograms of 42 patients with breast cancer who had received such radiotherapy 2 1/2 years previously. Also reviewed, to aid in identification of roentgenographic changes caused by other disease, were their clinical notes, hospital records and, in 5 instances, autopsy protocols. Evidence of slight pulmonary fibrosis appeared on the chest roentgenograms of 6 patients as one or more fibrotic strands, 2 or 3 cm long, in the lung underlying x‐irradiated regions of the thoracic wall. The affected lungs were not retracted or distorted. Evidence of radiation fibrosis did not appear on the serial chest roentgenograms of the other 36 patients. Among these 42 disparate patients with breast cancer observed for at least 2 1/2 years this standardized technique of radiotherapy did not cause roentgenographic evidence of significant pulmonary fibrosis.