Research progress on hypothyroidism after radiotherapy in breast cancer / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Radiotherapy has improved the locoregional control and overall survival for patients with breast cancer. Breast/chest wall and supraclavicular fossa are the common sites of irradiation. During radiotherapy, the thyroid gland will be inevitably irradiated at a certain dose, which might increase the risk of hypothyroidism in the long-term survivors. The irradiation dose to the thyroid gland cannot be evaluated by traditional two-dimensional radiation technique. The hypothyroidism induced by radiation has been largely ignored. With the development of radiotherapy and application of three-dimentional conformal radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy in breast cancer, how to choose appropriate radiation technique and how to limit the dose irradiated to the thyroid gland remain to be urgently resolved. This review systematically summarized the clinical characteristics, pathogenesis, risk factors and monitoring of hypothyroidism induced by radiotherapy, aiming to help clinicians to make the optimal decision in radiation technique selection and treatment plan evaluation.