Early detection and improved treatment approaches following breast cancer (BC) have increased disease specific survival and resulted in increasing cohorts of BC survivors who are prone to develop late complications from treatment, including damage caused by radiation therapy (RT) to the heart. Older RT techniques for treating the breast resulted in excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Improved RT techniques minimize irradiation to the heart. Data from various trials have yielded conflicting results on the extent to which these contemporary techniques have actually decreased cardiotoxicity. Long term follow-up and large cohorts are needed in order to evaluate the risk for cardiotoxicity, when based on its clinical manifestations. The current study is aimed to evaluate various imaging methods as potential surrogates to assess the degree of damage caused to the heart by RT in BC survivors many years before it becomes clinically apparent.This includes Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) - based on high resolution computed tomography of the heart following injection of contrast medium which evaluates the degree of stenosis of the coronary arteries.~One hundred patients treated for breast carcinoma, fifty with left breast and fifty with right breast cancer, will be included in the current study and compared for the incidence of cardiac damage. Since the radiation dose to the heart is substantially lower in patients irradiated for right-sided tumors, comparing the incidence of findings indicating cardiac injury in the two groups will define the contribution of RT to these findings. For each patient included in the study, the incidence of cardiovascular disease will be correlated also with the volume of heart irradiated, the radiation dose delivered to that volume, the concomitant administration of cardiotoxic systemic agents, as well as to patient's age when irradiated and risk factors for developing coronary artery disease.
The current study is aimed to evaluate various imaging methods, including multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) as potential surrogates to assess the degree of damage caused to the heart by radiation therapy to the breast, in breast cancer survivors many years before it becomes clinically apparent.