The Value of Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring in Early Diagnosis of Radiation-Induced Coronary Artery Disease in Breast Cancer Patients Following Radiation

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer (BC) mortality rate has significantly decreased during the past decades by introducing adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy (RT) in addition to surgery. However, as an emerging phenomenon, the corresponding therapeutic side effects caused non-malignant morbidity and mortality. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading non-malignant cause of death in BC patients. It is established that chest RT has a role in atherosclerotic plaque formation in the coronary arteries. Newer techniques of RT like three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) use technical methods in which less radiation doses are given to the non-cancerous tissues. Non-invasive technique of coronary artery calcium score (CACS) can detect atherosclerotic plaques long before the plaques become symptomatic, helping to treat them in early stages, so improve BC patients’ outcome. The aim of this study is to assess and compare CACS in BC patients with a history of 3D-RT and non-BC women in the same age range with no history of RT.