Does breast radiation therapy raise risk of skin cancer?

Radiation therapy for breast cancer treatment leads to an increased risk of skin cancer, according to research published March 8 in JAMA Network Open. A team led by Shawheen Rezaei from Stanford University found that the risk of non-keratinocyte skin cancer diagnosis such as melanoma and hemangiosarcoma after breast cancer treatment with radiation was more than 50% higher. “Although occurrences of non-keratinocyte skin cancers are rare, physicians should be aware of this elevated risk to help inform follow-up care,” the Rezaei team wrote. While breast cancer treatment strategies have improved over the decades, survivors still face challenges after treatment. One is the risk of recurrence from breast cancer metastasizing to another part of the body or being prone to developing a second primary cancer in a new location. Previous studies point to radiation therapy being a contributor to an increased risk of subsequent non-keratinocyte skin cancers. Rezaei and colleagues investigated whether radiation therapy for treating breast cancer increases the risk of subsequent non-keratinocyte skin cancers. They focused on cancers that are localized to the skin of the breast or trunk and compared results to patients treated via chemotherapy and surgery. The study included data collected between 2000 and 2019 from 875,880 patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer. Of the total, 99.3% of patients were women, 51.6% were aged older than 60 years, and 50.3% received radiation therap...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Subspecialties Womens Imaging Breast Breast Imaging Source Type: news