Heartening News
Posted 11/5/2012
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I apologize for the title, could not resist the poor pun. This is very good news about the lack of cardiac damage from left breast radiation. For years, there has been expressed worry among women receiving left breast radiation and, if not concern, at least thoughtfulness from radiation oncologists about possible heart damage. This has always been one of those things that we regretfully accept when we agree to treatment. Like other possible medium or long-term side effects, possible cardiac damage in the future has seemed a necessary trade off to treat the present danger of breast cancer.
Here is the most important paragraph from Oncology State and then a link to read more (registration is required, but it is free):
Cardiac Toxicity Not Seen 25 Years after Breast Radiation
Investigators found no significant differences in Framingham Heart Study risk scores, hemodynamic parameters, pericardial thickening, or heart failure among 50 women who had been randomized in the 1970s and 1980s to either mastectomy or breast conserving surgery (BCS) and radiation, Dr. Charles B. Simone II reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.
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