LOS ANGELES -- Women with breast cancer who are treated with radiation run a higher risk of heart problems, according to a population-based study of survivors in Sweden and Denmark published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
But radiation has improved cancer survival, and the chance of suffering a radiation-induced heart problem is fairly small. Doctors urged women not to skip the recommended radiation, which typically is delivered in lower doses today.The increased risk was seen even in lower doses, but risk rose in proportion to the level of radiation received.Researchers assessed 2,168 women whose breast cancer was treated with radiation from 1958 to 2001. In all, 963 women had major coronary events -- a heart attack, bypass surgery or heart disease-related death.Forty-four percent took place within 10 years of the cancer diagnosis. An additional 33 percent occurred 10 to 19 years later, and 23 percent occurred 20 or more years later.In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Javid Moslehi, co-director of the Cardio-Oncology Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, suggested the breast cancer-radiotherapy study might represent merely "the tip of the iceberg" -- that radiation exposure might also increase risks of conditions such as pericardial disease and arrhythmia.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
