RESUMO
Cardiovascular complications from irradiation for breast carcinoma were assessed by history, physical examination, ECG recording, exercise test and heart volume determination before and two and six months after treatment in 197 unselected patients. A deterioration in general condition during therapy was reported by about 50 per cent of the patients, with shortness of breath and palpitation of the heart as the most frequent complaints and with a gradual improvement after therapy. Clinically, one case of pericarditis was diagnosed. ECG T-wave abnormalities appeared in 35 per cent of the patients after treatment, essentially confined to patients with left-sided pre- or postoperative treatment, where the mean radiation dose to the anterior quarter of the heart usually exceeded 20 Gy. Physical working capacity two and six months after therapy did not seem to be influenced by irradiation alone, and no correlation existed between change in physical working capacity and appearance of ECG T-wave abnormalities. The heart volume increased by more than 200 ml in 2 patients but otherwise the changes in heart volume were small. A high incidence of ECG T-wave abnormalities following left-sided irradiation for breast carcinoma was noted, but in the short term these ECG changes were functionally insignificant.
