Radiotherapy Induces Development of Fragmented QRS in Patients with Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial fibrosis is a well-known side effect of radiotherapy. Fragmented QRS (fQRS) has been shown to be a marker of myocardial fibrosis. We postulated that radiotherapy induces development of fQRS in breast cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Breast cancer patients receiving locoregional radiotherapy were enrolled. Patients who had fQRS on electrocardiography (ECG) before radiotherapy were excluded. All patients were revaluated for the development of fQRS at 1-year follow-up. An age-matched healthy group served as controls. RESULTS: A total of 52 breast cancer patients receiving locoregional radiotherapy were included (median age 49 years, interquartile range (IQR) 13). Of these, 19 (37%) had developed fQRS at 1-year follow-up. Compared with the control group, prevalence of fQRS was significantly higher in the irradiated group (37 vs. 12%; p < 0.002). Median total cardiac radiation dose was significantly higher in patients who had developed fQRS (5 Gy, IQR 5.2 vs. 1.7 Gy, IQR 4.4; p = 0.003). Cardiac radiation dose, entered either as a continuous variable (odds ratio (OR) 1.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) 104-1.74) or as a dichotomized variable (≥ 2.2 Gy, OR 6.48, 95% CI 1.47-28.61), was independently associated with the development of fQRS at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSION: Radiotherapy for breast cancer induces development of fQRS on ECG. Cardiac radiation dose is independently associated with the development of fQRS.

Adjuvant radiotherapy in stage 1 seminoma: Evaluation of prognostic factors and results of survival.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors affecting overall survival (OS), cause-specific survival (CSS), progression-free survival (PFS), and survival among patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) for stage-1 seminoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between August 1997 and May 2013, 68 patients diagnosed with stage-1 seminoma were retrospectively evaluated. The median age was 39 (24-74) years. All patients received adjuvant RT after inguinal orchiectomy. Fifty-eight (85.3%) patients received paraaortic RT; 10 (14.7%) received dog-leg field RT. The median RT dose was 23.4 (23.4-30.6) Gy. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 77.5 (6.7-198.5) months. During the follow-up period, two patients developed distant metastasis, and none developed local recurrence. Two patients died from seminoma, and three died for other reasons. The 5, 10, and 15-year OS rates were 94.7%, 89.6%, and 89.6%, respectively. The 5, 10, and 15-year CSS rates were 98.5%, 96%, and 96%, respectively. The 5, 10, and 15-year PFS rate was 96.1%. The univariate analysis showed that only histological subtype was significant for OS. The 10-year survival rate was 100% among patients with seminoma histology, 90.8% among patients with a classic seminoma histology, and 50% among patients with an anaplastic seminoma histology (P < 0.001). A multivariate analysis showed that the anaplastic seminoma was a negative prognostic indicator for OS (P = 0.042). CONCLUSION: Adjuvant RT resulted in excellent long-term survival and local control in patients with stage-1 seminoma after orchiectomy. During a short follow-up, secondary malignancy (SM) and late cardiovascular morbidity were not observed. Despite those results, concern of SM and late cardiovascular morbidity remains.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast: A case report and literature review.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignant tumor of the breast that occurs in <0.1% of all patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The mean patient age at the time of diagnosis is 50-60 years. Typically, the tumor presents as a subareolar mass or as pain in the breast. While the radiological appearances of ACC are generally non-specific, the diagnosis can be made on fine-needle aspiration cytology. In the present study, a 58-year-old female patient was admitted to the Department of Radiation Oncology (Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey) with complaints of pain in the upper outer quadrant of the right breast. An excision biopsy of a lump in the upper outer quadrant revealed ACC, and perineural invasion was present. Subsequently, the patient underwent breast conservation surgery and sentinel lymph node dissection. Pathology from the second surgery depicted ACC in the form of microscopic foci around the initial surgical cavity, with two reactive sentinel lymph nodes and the closest negative margin at 2 mm. The patient was treated with radiotherapy following the surgery. No recurrence and metastasis were found after 20 months of follow-up. In conclusion, mammary ACC is a rare malignant neoplasm of the breast. Although surgery is the main treatment, the optimal adjuvant treatment of ACC of the breast has not yet been determined due to its low incidence.