Tamoxifen Toxicity in Breast Cancer Radiation

Abstract

Objectives: To see any added toxicity of tamoxifen when prescribed during radiotherapy in breast cancer. Design: Treatment, Randomized, Open Label, Parallel Assignment. Setting: Department of Clinical Oncology Allied Hospital Faisalabad. Period: from February 2005 to June 2007. Patient and Methods: 300 patients were enrolled, age ranging from 22 to 73 years.  Stage-I, II and III breast cancer were included in study. Staging was done on AJCC staging system. All were hormone positive. All patients were divided into two arms. Arm A, 150 patients given tamoxifen during radiation and arm B, 150 patients were given tamoxifen after completion of radiotherapy. All patients were examined for skin reactions and lung toxicity (pneumonitis) weekly and at six weeks after completion of radiation. Results: Most of patients in both arms show skin reactions in 3^rd week and pneumonitis around the end of treatment. Only 2 % patients in each arm suffer from grade IV toxicity. Toxicity was manageable and comparable. Conclusion: There was no significant additional toxicity of concurrent use of tamoxifen with radiation.