INCIDENCE OF PULMONARY AND SKIN METASTASES IN WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER WHO RECEIVED POSTOPERATIVE IRRADIATION

Abstract

The effect of x-ray treatment (total dose of 4500 r over a 3-week period) was evaluated in 354 patients, some of whom had previously undergone mastectomy. In clinically and pathologically comparable cases, ipsilateral pulmonary iaetastases and skin metastases in patients who had radical mastectomy were 14 and 34%, respectively, whereas in patients who received irradiation after mastectomy, incidences of metastases at those 2 sites were 37 and 52%. A similar change of patterns of metastases in lungs and skin was also observed in patients who have had simple mastectomy and irradiation. The increase in the incidence of ipsilateral skin and pulmonary metastases is ascribed to the effect of irradiation, and the observations strongly support the postulate that irradiation favors development of metastases in the lungs. The fact that metastases developed in the skin within the portals of irradiation, and in the ipsilateral lung in the same patients, is evidence that the lymphatic and vascular obstructions due to fibrosis contribute to the development of the metastases in these tissues. The different patterns of skin and lung metastases in nonirradiated patients render additional support to the theory. The incidence of these injuries in 50 irradiated patients was: 18 had permanent disability ofmore » the upper extremities; 14 had necrosis of the bones with fractures of the clavicle and ribs; 25 had initial pneumonitis and subsequently pulmonary fibrosis; and 40 had skin changes, ranging from desquamation to ulceration. No significant difference was demonstrated in the survival of patients with cancer of the breast who received radical irradiation in addition to mastectomy. Furthermore, irradiation may favor the development of metastases in the lungs and skin, and cause disabling injuries. (TCO)« less