A Case Report on Radionecrosis: Study after 30 Years of Breast Cancer

This case report is also of interest as no other case in the literature describes a presentation of radionecrosis as long as 30 years after the initial radiotherapy course.

A 70-year-old woman presenting to outpatient with a several-week history of a painful mass in her right breast, 30 years after her treatment for primary breast cancer.Although it was initially thought that this was a return of her cancer, many biopsies ultimately disproved this. Her injury was actually radionecrosis caused by radiotherapy, which was thereafter cured with surgical debridement. Radionecrosis can develop more than 20 years following radiotherapy, especially in patients who had the procedure 20 to 30 years prior. Nonetheless, technological advances have made radiotherapy much more targeted today, and as a result, the frequency of radiation-induced ailments will decline.