the troponin-i release in patients with left-sided early-stage breast cancer undergoing adjuvant whole breast radiotherapy: an iranian experience

Background: breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women. in line with the survival improvement of patients with cancer, the issue of treatment-induced toxicities becomes more important. objectives: this study aimed at evaluating acute radiation-induced cardiac damage. methods: between 2016 and 2019, women with histologically-confirmed early-stage left-sided breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in-situ (dcis) without prior chemotherapy, who were candidates for adjuvant whole breast radiotherapy, entered the study. the radiation-induced cardiotoxicity was assessed, using a rise in high-sensitivity cardiac troponin i (hsctni) over the radiotherapy. likewise, the association between the percentage of heart receiving at least 25gy (v25gy) and the rise in hsctni was evaluated as the secondary endpoint. results: a total of 22 women were included in this study. mean ± standard deviation (sd) hsctni for the whole study population was 12±2 ng/l before and 15±2 ng/l after radiotherapy. the median (interquartile range [iqr]) v25gy was 8.05% (6.95% - 8.95%). the difference between hsctni levels before and after radiotherapy was significant (p = 0.001). there was no correlation between v25gy and the rise in hsctni (p = 0.18). conclusions: hsctni is a sensitive marker to detect early radiation-induced cardiotoxicity. there is no association between v25gy and the rise in hsctni over radiotherapy.