EFFECT OF 5 WEEKS RADIATION THERAPY ON PULMONARY FUNCTIONS IN BREAST CANCER PATIENTS: A PILOT STUDY

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: The lung has a very little regenerative capacity; it cannot tolerate long doses of radiation. The critical injuries that eventually lead to impaired ventilation and diffusion capacity are related to total dose, its fractionation, and volume of lung irradiated. The absorption of ionizing radiation causes immediate subcellular and cellular damage while its gross morphological expression in terms of tissue injury.

Aim of study: To observe the effect of 5 weeks of Radiation Therapy on Pulmonary Functions in breast cancer patients Methodology: The study was carried out on ten subjects ranging in the age group of 35-65 years where PFT parameters were recorded initially and at the end of every week for five weeks. Then parameters were compared pre radiation and every week after the radiation therapy for five weeks.

RESULT: Data was analyzed in terms of the mean difference. Statistically, there were no significant changes seen in the PFT parameter values that are pre- radiation and post-radiation every week for five weeks and the p values obtained were for following parameters 1) FVC – 0.487 2) FEV1 – 0.863 3) FEV1/FVC – 0.487 4) FEF_25-75% - 5) PEFR- .

CONCLUSION: There were no significant changes that were found in the parameters of the pulmonary function test. Changes in lung volume and capacities are expected after Radiation therapy that is risk of damaging pulmonary parenchyma and losing type 2 pneumocytes but patient never present changes due to compensation in relation to healthy changes which did not receive radiation.

KEY WORDS: Breast Cancer,Radiation Therapy,Pulmonary Function Test