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. 2022 Jun 4;19(11):6891.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116891.

Long-Term Skin Temperature Changes after Breast Cancer Radiotherapy

Agnieszka Baic  1 , Dominika Plaza  2 , Barbara Lange  3 , Łukasz Michalecki  4 , Agata Stanek  5 , Anna Kowalczyk  6 , Krzysztof Ślosarek  2 , Armand Cholewka  1
Affiliations

Long-Term Skin Temperature Changes after Breast Cancer Radiotherapy

Agnieszka Baic et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The aim of the study was to use thermal imaging to evaluate long-term chest temperature changes in patients who had previously been treated with radiotherapy. The examination with a thermal imaging camera involved 144 women-48 of them were patients after RT, 48 were females before breast cancer radiotherapy and the last group of participants were 48 healthy women. All patients (before and after radiotherapy) were divided into women after mastectomy and those after conservative surgery. In addition, the first group of women, those who had received radiotherapy, were divided into three other groups: up to 1 year after RT, over 1 year and up to 5 years after RT and over 5 years after RT. Due to this, it was possible to compare the results and analyse the differences between the temperature in the healthy and treated breasts. The comparison of obtained temperature results showed that the area treated by ionizing radiation is characterized by a higher temperature even a few years after the finished treatment. It is worth mentioning that despite the fact that the difference was visible on the thermograms, the patients had no observable skin lesion or change in color at the treatment site. For the results of the study provided for the group of healthy patients, there were no significant differences observed between the average temperatures in the breasts. The use of thermal imaging in the evaluation of skin temperature changes after radiotherapy showed that the average temperature in the treated breast area can change even a long time after treatment.

Keywords: breast cancer; radiation therapy; thermography.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Thermal image of representative patient after surgery (A) and mastectomy (B) taken up to 1 year after the end of radiotherapy treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Thermal image of representative patient after surgery (A) and mastectomy (B) taken over 1 year and up to 5 years after the end of radiotherapy treatment.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Thermal image of representative patient after surgery (A) and mastectomy (B) taken over 5 years after the end of radiotherapy treatment.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Thermal images for representative patient after mastectomy (A) and conserving surgery (B).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Thermal image for representative healthy woman.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The average temperature difference for irradiated patients after surgery obtained between breasts in three time intervals: up to 1 year ago, over 1 year and up to 5 years and over 5 years ago for patients after surgery. The results for healthy women and women after conserving surgery have been added to the comparison.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The average temperature difference for irradiated patients after mastectomy obtained between breasts in three time intervals: up to 1 year ago, over 1 year and up to 5 years and over 5 years ago for patients after mastectomy. The results for healthy women and women after mastectomy have been added to the comparison.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Comparison of mastectomy and surgery for the group of patients over 1 year and up to 5 years after radiotherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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