You may hear your doctor refer to it as breast fibrosis or glandular atrophy or radiation fibrosis syndrome rfs.
Side effects of radiation therapy for breast cancer long term.
You won t lose the hair on your head.
However you may lose some hair under your arm or on the breast or chest area getting radiation this may be a concern for some men with breast cancer.
Other side effects depend on the part of the body that is being treated.
Your doctor will talk to you about the possible long term effects before you start your treatment.
Many people who get radiation therapy experience fatigue.
Long term side effects of radiotherapy.
Radiotherapy can have some long term side effects such as hair loss and skin changes.
The breasts may shrink or become more dense after radiation some women.
Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells.
Learn more about possible side effects.
Swelling in the breast.
Possible side effects of external radiation.
The main short term side effects of external beam radiation therapy to the breast are.
However breast fibrosis can also be long term side effect of radiotherapy.
Rare short or long term side effects.
Concern over long term side effects of radiation therapy is becoming more common as survival rates improve.
Nausea is rare with radiation therapy to the breast.
Rare short term side effects nausea and hair loss.
Long term side effects can include.
Skin changes in the treated area similar to a sunburn redness skin peeling darkening of the skin fatigue.