Side Effects From Radiotherapy For Breast Cancer

The most common cancers linked to radiation therapy are sarcomas cancers of the connective tissue.
Side effects from radiotherapy for breast cancer. Radiotherapy to the breast or under the arm can cause hardening of the tissue. For women who are long term smokers radiation therapy may also increase the risk of lung cancer. Radiation therapy and risk of a second cancer. Many patients are surprised to discover that having radiation therapy is less difficult than they expected though the radiation used to damage cancer in your body can also damage healthy cells.
Find out about planning radiotherapy for breast cancer how you have treatment and about the possible side effects. Not everyone experiences side effects of radiation. Find out about the side effects of external radiotherapy for breast cancer and how to cope with them. Other side effects depend on the part of the body that is being treated.
Radiotherapy for breast cancer. Doctors may recommend this therapy in combination with others such as surgery and chemotherapy. Radiation therapy to the pelvis for example as treatment for bladder ovarian or prostate cancer can cause side effects such as. This is known as fibrosis.
Serious side effects are very rare and experts agree that the benefits of radiotherapy in reducing the chances of breast cancer returning outweigh the risk of possible side effects. Side effects of radiotherapy. Just as the benefits of radiation are gradual you ll usually see a gradual onset of side effects. Radiation can be an effective treatment for breast cancer but it does have side effects.
Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells. Learn more about possible side effects. Radiotherapy uses high energy x rays to kill cancer cells. Bladder problems fertility problems.
They continue to get worse during the treatment and after the treatment has finished. Many people who get radiation therapy experience fatigue.