SARCOMAS FOLLOWING RADIATION-THERAPY FOR BREAST-CANCER - A REPORT OF 3 CASES AND A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Purpose: First to describe clinical and pathologic features of sarcoma s arising after radiation therapy for breast cancer and to report thre e cases of sarcoma arising 7, 15, and 20 years following radiation the rapy for breast cancer. Second, to review the literature on this treat ment complication. Methods and Materials: Medline literature search. R esults: The most frequent histology is osteosarcoma and bone is affect ed more commonly than soft tissue at a median latency of II years. The scapula is the most frequently affected bone. The most frequently aff ected soft tissue site is now the conserved breast with a median laten cy of 5.5 years. The aetiologic factors relating to these sarcomas are not fully defined with factors of beam energy, radiation dose, chemot herapy and regional edema being inconsistently reported. Conclusion: T he frequency of radiation-induced sarcoma at 10 years of follow-up is approximately 0.2%. This is an overestimate by an unknown factor becau se of the description of sarcomas arising metachromously in breast can cer patients, in nonirradiated areas.