Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jan 15;108(1):179-82.
doi: 10.1038/bjc.2012.575. Epub 2012 Dec 20.

Radiation-related mortality from heart disease and lung cancer more than 20 years after radiotherapy for breast cancer

K E Henson  1 , P McGale, C Taylor, S C Darby
Affiliations

Radiation-related mortality from heart disease and lung cancer more than 20 years after radiotherapy for breast cancer

K E Henson et al. Br J Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Radiation-related heart disease and lung cancer can occur following radiotherapy for breast cancer but the duration of any mortality risk is uncertain.

Methods: Mortality ratios, by laterality of breast cancer, were estimated using Poisson regression for 558 871 women recorded with breast cancer during 1973-2008 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registries and followed until 01 January 2009.

Results: For women diagnosed with breast cancer during 1973-1982 and given radiotherapy shortly afterwards, the cardiac mortality ratios, left-sided vs right-sided, were 1.19 (1.03-1.38), 1.35 (1.05-1.73), 1.64 (1.26-2.14) and 1.90 (1.52-2.37) at <10, 10-14, 15-19 and 20+ years since diagnosis (2p for trend: <0.001). The lung cancer mortality ratios, ipsilateral vs contralateral, in these women were 1.05 (0.57-1.94), 2.04 (1.28-3.23) and 3.87 (2.19-6.82) at <10, 10-19 and 20+ years, respectively, (2p for trend: 0.002). For women irradiated during 1983-92 there was evidence of radiation-related mortality for lung cancer, but not for heart disease. For women irradiated since 1993 there is, as yet, little evidence of any radiation-related mortality.

Conclusion: In this population, the radiation-related risks were larger in the third decade after exposure than during the first two decades.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cardiac mortality ratios, left-sided vs right-sided breast cancer, for women treated with radiotherapy by calendar period of breast cancer diagnosis and time (in years) since breast cancer diagnosis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Lung cancer mortality ratios, ipsilateral vs contralateral, for women treated with radiotherapy by calendar period of breast cancer diagnosis and time (in years) since breast cancer diagnosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bouillon K, Haddy N, Delaloge S, Garbay J-R, Garsi J-P, Brindel P, Mousannif A, Le MG, Labbe M, Arriagada R, Jougla E, Chavaudra J, Diallo I, Rubino C, de Vathaire F (2011) Long-term cardiovascular mortality after radiotherapy for breast cancer. J Am Coll Cardiol 57: 445–452 - PubMed
    1. Darby SC, McGale P, Taylor CW, Peto R (2005) Long-term mortality from heart disease and lung cancer after radiotherapy for early breast cancer: prospective cohort study of about 300 000 women in US SEER cancer registries. Lancet Oncol 6: 557–565 - PubMed
    1. Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) (2005) Effects of radiotherapy and of differences in the extent of surgery for early breast cancer on local recurrence and 15-year survival: an overview of the randomised trials. Lancet 366: 2087–2106 - PubMed
    1. Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) (2011) Effect of radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery on 10-year recurrence and 15-year breast cancer death: meta-analysis of individual patient data for 10 801 women in 17 randomised trials. Lancet 378: 1707–1716 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Inskip PD, Stovall M, Flannery JT (1994) Lung cancer risk and radiation dose among women treated for breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 86: 983–988 - PubMed

Publication types