Side Effects To Radiation Therapy For Breast Cancer

Radiation therapy and risk of a second cancer.

Side effects to radiation therapy for breast cancer.

Damage to healthy cells can cause side effects. What are the side effects of radiation for breast cancer. It can happen all at once or come on slowly. On these pages you can read about the kinds of side effects you may experience over the course of your radiation treatment.

The most common cancers linked to radiation therapy are sarcomas cancers of the connective tissue. For women who are long term smokers radiation therapy may also increase the risk of lung cancer. The x rays or particles are painless and invisible. Read about the how radiation affects the skin in the managing skin side effects pages.

In rare cases radiation therapy to the breast can cause a second cancer. Red swollen warm sensitive skin it might feel like you have a sunburn. Rapidly growing cells such as cancer cells are more susceptible to the effects of radiation therapy than are normal cells. Many people who get radiation therapy have fatigue.

Long term side effects occur months or years after treatment has ended. Short term side effects occur during the treatment or directly afterward usually within 6. Radiation not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells. Side effects of external beam radiation depending on the dose and type you may notice these during treatment.

Lowered white blood cell counts.