Radiation for breast cancer isn’t totally risk-free
DEAR DOCTOR K: I had radiation therapy for breast cancer a few years ago. Now I’m reading radiation therapy might increase my risk for heart disease. Is this true? Can I do anything to decrease my risk?
DEAR READER: Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays to damage or destroy cancer cells. It harms cancer cells primarily by damaging their genes. But the radiation can also damage genes of healthy non-cancerous cells.
Newer radiation techniques allow higher doses of radiation to be aimed more precisely at the area being treated. This reduces damage to healthy tissue near a tumor, but it doesn’t eliminate it completely.
I spoke to Dr. Deepak Bhatt. He is executive director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center. He noted in women who have had breast radiation, the lifetime risk of having a heart attack or another major cardiac event increases about 3 percent. Women who have radiation to the left breast, which is closer to the heart, have a higher chance of problems.
Radiation-related heart effects can emerge as soon as five years after treatment.
You may not be able to protect yourself completely from the long-term side effects of radiation, but you can take other steps to bolster your heart health. Here are some proven strategies:
Patients and doctors are frustrated that a treatment that improves one problem can sometimes cause another.
Compared to when I was a medical student, the treatment of breast cancer has greatly improved. Today’s treatments are both more effective and less risky. And I’ll bet that in the next few decades, the situation will improve further.