75505
document
Incidence of infectious symptoms after radiation therapy for breast cancer . Long-term effects . The incidence of symptoms generally associated with infectious disease was assessed by a questionnaire sent out to 519 disease-free breast cancer patients 7 to 12 years after primary treatment . All patients were treated in the context of a randomized trial where pre- and postoperative radiation ( 45 Gy ) was evaluated versus surgery only . The results indicate a significantly higher morbidity among patients treated with preoperative irradiation compared with those irradiated postoperative ( p less than 0.05 ) . This increased morbidity mainly seemed to be caused by symptoms usually associated with respiratory tract infection ( p less than 0.05 ) . Although statistically not significant the preoperatively irradiated patients also had a higher morbidity than those treated with surgery alone . There was no difference between postoperatively irradiated patients and patients treated with surgery only . A significantly higher integral dose ( absorbed energy within the body ) of the pre- compared with the postoperative group ( p less than 0.025 ) is associated with the differences in morbidity between the two irradiated groups . An explanation for the increased morbidity seems to be that the volume of lung tissue , encompassed within the full-dose target volume , is the crucial factor . This volume was considerable in the preoperatively treated patients but kept at a minimum in the postoperative group .
75506
Intervention_Physical
radiation therapy
75507
Intervention_Physical
pre- and postoperative radiation ( 45 Gy )
75508
Intervention_Surgical
surgery only
75509
Intervention_Physical
preoperative irradiation
75510
Intervention_Physical
irradiated postoperative
75511
Intervention_Physical
preoperatively irradiated
75512
Intervention_Surgical
surgery
75513
Intervention_Physical
postoperatively irradiated
75514
Intervention_Surgical
surgery
75515
Intervention_Physical
preoperatively treated
75516
Intervention_Physical
postoperative
75517
Outcome_Physical
infectious symptoms
75518
Outcome_Physical
higher morbidity
75519
Outcome_Physical
morbidity
75520
Outcome_Physical
morbidity