Modern pacemakers are highly sensitive to radiation, necessitating careful radiotherapy planning to minimize device exposure in patients undergoing treatment for malignancies like breast cancer.
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Warrants caution in radiotherapy planning for patients with modern pacemakers; leaves open optimal protocols pending prospective data.
A postmenopausal lady with an in situ pacemaker developed a lump in the left breast and was diagnosed to have breast cancer. The patient underwent breast conservative surgery and was planned for post operative radiotherapy. The location of the tumor relative to the pacemaker provided a unique challenge in planning radiotherapy and the patient had an uneventful post radiotherapy course. A literature review revealed that modern generation pacemakers are very sensitive to radiation compared to their older counterparts. The present article makes suggestions towards reducing dose in radiotherapy planning in pacemaker patients.
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Munshi et al. (2008) studied this question.
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