Breast Cancer Radiotherapy Associated Diabetes Mellitus Case Reports

Abstract

Primary breast cancer when detected early can be treated by radical mastectomy alone. However, 20-30% of women treated as such later on, develop local or regional recurrence. This leads to an additional treatment with radiotherapy by the oncologist for the sake of the 20-30% of patients that may need it postoperatively. The additional treatment by the use of radiotherapy has its own side effect. These include, among other things radiation fibrosis of the lungs which is said to be very rare and has been reported to affect the apices of the lung with excessive fibrous tissue formation. Regional radiotherapy can affect the cellular mechanism of immunity leading to increase in micro metastases. Therefore because of the above reasons as side effects of radiotherapy, some oncologist do not give radiotherapy in immediate postoperative period.

Diabetes mellitus has never been reported as a complication of theraupetic radiology of the breast in breast cancer, so we have decided to report these cases to keep clinicians on the alert of the possibilities of Diabetes mellitus after radiotherapy.

Highland Medical Research Journal Vol.1(2) 2002: 29-30