What are the possible late effects of radiotherapy of the breast?
Depending on the size and location of the tumour, radiotherapy may require several sessions, for example up to 36 or more sessions. Depending on the absorbed dose, the adjacent skin of the affected region is also damaged. This can also affect the mucous membrane or organs.
Occasionally there are permanent pigmentation disorders of the skin and disorders of the sweat glands. In addition to a harmless reddening of the skin, in ten percent of cases a so-called fibrosis of the breast can occur. This presents itself as a connective tissue reconstruction of the mammary gland tissue.
In earlier years, imprecise radiation fields caused more frequent heart damage and thus increased heart mortality. In the last 15 years, this has hardly played a role due to better, tissue-conserving irradiation procedures. In addition to breast-specific irradiation, there is a general risk of inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth, oesophagus or intestine, which can manifest itself for example as diarrhoea.
Irradiation of the bone or the haematopoietic bone marrow results in anaemia, reduced platelet and white blood cell counts. Since the sternum is a relatively small bone when it is in the radiation field, there are usually no serious effects. In rare cases, radiation may cause a secondary tumour in the breast or a tumour on the opposite side.
