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Cardiovascular disease remains an important complication of radiotherapy in breast cancer survivors, yet little is known about the impact of breast cancer radiotherapy on the long-term risk for cardiovascular death. To find out more, these investigators studied mortality and causes of death in more than 4500 women who were treated for breast cancer at a single institution in France between 1954 and 1984 and who survived at least 5 years. Median follow-up was 28 years.
Cardiovascular disease was the reported cause of 421 deaths, of which 236 were cardiac. Compared with women who had not received radiotherapy, women who had received radiotherapy had a significantly higher risk for dying of cardiac disease (relative risk, 1.76) and a nonsignifi…