Dose-sparing effect of deep inspiration breath hold technique on coronary artery and left ventricle segments in treatment of breast cancer

Adjuvant radiotherapy following breast-conserving surgery decreases local recurrences and improves survival outcomes in breast cancer [1,2]. However, radiotherapy is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications as a result of cardiac irradiation, including ischemic heart disease [3-5], valvulopathy [3,6-9], congestive heart failure [3,5], myocarditis [9], arrhythmia [3] and myocardial infarction [5,10]. A case control study has demonstrated an increased risk of major coronary events by 7.4% for every Gy increase in mean dose to the heart [11].
Source: Radiotherapy and Oncology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research