大象tv

Radiation therapy is treatment with high-energy rays (or particles) that destroy cancer cells. Some men with breast cancer will need radiation therapy, often along with other treatments.

Because breast cancer in men is rare, it’s been hard to study, so the recommendations for radiation therapy are largely based on those for breast cancer in women.

Do I need radiation therapy for breast cancer?

Whether you need radiation depends on factors such as:

• The size and extent of the main breast tumor, including if it has reached the skin
• What type of breast surgery you have
• The risk of the cancer coming back
• If the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or somewhere else in your body

Not all men with breast cancer need radiation therapy, but it may be used in several situations:

• After breast-conserving surgery (BCS), to help lower the chance that the cancer will come back in the remaining breast tissue or nearby lymph nodes.
• After a mastectomy, especially if the breast tumor is large or is attached to the skin.
• If cancer is found in the lymph nodes.
• If cancer has spread to other parts of the body, such as the bones or the brain.

Which areas need radiation depends on the reason you are getting it:

• If you had a mastectomy and no lymph nodes had cancer, radiation is focused on the chest wall, the mastectomy scar, and anywhere drains had been placed after surgery.
• If you had BCS, you will most likely have radiation to the entire breast (whole breast radiation), and an extra boost of radiation to the area where the cancer was removed (the tumor bed) to help prevent it from coming back in that area. The boost is often given after the treatments to the whole breast have ended. It uses the same machine, with lower amounts of radiation.
• If cancer was found in the lymph nodes under the arm (axillary lymph nodes), this area may be given radiation, as well. In some cases, the area treated might also include the nodes above the collarbone (supraclavicular lymph nodes) and the nodes beneath the breastbone in the center of the chest (internal mammary lymph nodes).
• If the cancer is in another part of the body, the radiation will be focused on that area.

When will I get radiation therapy?

If you need radiation therapy to the breast and/or lymph nodes after surgery (known as adjuvant radiation therapy), it is usually not started until your surgery site has healed, which is often a month or longer.

If you are getting chemotherapy as well, radiation treatments are usually delayed until chemotherapy is complete.

What is getting radiation therapy like?

The most common type of radiation therapy for men with breast cancer is external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). It uses a machine to direct high-energy rays from outside your body into the area affected by the cancer.

Before your treatment starts, the radiation team will carefully figure out the correct angles for aiming the radiation beams and the proper dose of radiation. They will make some ink marks or small tattoos on your skin to help focus the radiation on the right area. Check with your health care team whether the marks they use will be permanent.

External radiation therapy is much like getting an x-ray, but the radiation is stronger. The procedure itself is painless. Each treatment lasts only a few minutes, but the setup time—getting you into place for treatment—usually takes longer.

The number of radiation treatments you need and the length of treatment will depend on why it’s being given. For example, adjuvant radiation (after surgery) is usually given 5 days a week for at least several weeks.

Possible side effects of radiation therapy

The main short-term side effects of external beam radiation therapy to the breast are:

• Swelling in the breast or chest wall
• Skin changes in the treated area similar to a sunburn (redness, skin peeling, darkening of the skin)
• Fatigue

Your health care team may advise you to avoid exposing the treated skin to the sun because it could make the skin changes worse. Most skin changes get better within a few months. Changes to the breast tissue usually go away in 6 to 12 months, but it can take longer.

External beam radiation therapy can also cause side effects later on:

• Radiation to the breast or chest wall can sometimes damage some of the nerves to the arm. This is called brachial plexopathy and can lead to numbness, pain, and weakness in the shoulder, arm, and hand.
• Radiation to the underarm lymph nodes can cause lymphedema, a type of pain and swelling in the arm or chest.
• In rare cases, radiation therapy may weaken the ribs, which could lead to a fracture.
• In the past, parts of the lungs and heart were more likely to get some radiation, which could lead to long-term damage to these organs. Modern radiation therapy equipment focuses the radiation beams better than older machines, so these problems are rare today.
• A very rare complication of radiation to the breast or chest wall is the development of another cancer called an angiosarcoma.