Evaluation of Acute Complications of Esophageal Radiation in Patients with Breast Cancer Treated at the Radiotherapy Center of Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj in 2020

Abstract

Background and Aim: Radiotherapy is a major modality for cancer treatment. One of the most important complications of breast radiotherapy is esophagitis. Esophagitis can reduce patient’s quality of life. Because of increasing role of radiotherapy in cancer treatment and importance of attention to quality of life in cancer patients, evaluation of radiotherapy complications is essential. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive analytic study and included 34 breast cancer patients who had referred to the radiotherapy center of Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj and received radiation therapy. Based on a standard questionnaire of esophagus complications, patients were assessed for the symptoms of esophagitis for six consecutive weeks. In addition to demographic characteristics and assigning a code to every patient and weekly follow ups for searching esophagitis symptoms, amount of received radiation dose and other dosimetric indecies were calculated and the results were analyzed. Results: According to the results, mean prescription dose was 50 Gy and the average of mean dose and maximum dose received by esophagus were 2.60 and 29.78 Gy respectively. The most and least rates of complications were found in the third and first weeks respectively. Conclusion: In the patients who had received breast radiation therapy in the radiotherapy center of Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj in 2020, incidence of esophagitis was significantly correlated with the mean dose of radiation.

Keywords

• radiotherapy
• breast cancer
• esophagitis
• dosimetry