Pulmonary radiation reaction in the treatment of carcinoma of the breast.

Chest roentgenograms were performed regularly before and a long time after radiotherapy in 157 patients with cancer of the breast. Radiation-induced parenchymal changes were demonstrated in 73 per cent of the patients and pleural effusions in about 10 percent. Total regression of the parenchymal changes were extremely rare, but a slight decrease in the volume of the affected lung was normal. The radiation-induced pleural effusion had no special characteristics, but, with one exception, it occurred simultaneously with radiation-induced parenchymal infiltrates, and it did not increase in quantity in any case.