Skin necrosis in smoking patients receiving partial breast irradiation: two case reports

Edward R Sauter; Steven J Westgate; Janice Templemire

doi:10.1186/1757-1626-1-230

Skin necrosis in smoking patients receiving partial breast irradiation: two case reports

Cases J. 2008 Oct 8;1(1):230. doi: 10.1186/1757-1626-1-230.

Authors

Edward R Sauter¹, Steven J Westgate, Janice Templemire

Affiliation

¹ Departments of Surgery [ERS, JT] and Radiology [SW], Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, Columbia, MO 65212, USA. esauter@medicine.nodak.edu.

Abstract

Partial breast irradiation has become an increasingly popular mode of treatment after excisional biopsy to treat early stage invasive breast cancer. Its main advantage is that treatment can be delivered in five days rather than 30, as is standard for whole breast irradiation. Early reports suggest good to excellent cosmesis in the vast majority of subjects. Herein we report two cases of skin necrosis in women with Stage 1 breast cancer who smoked before and after partial breast irradiation.