Pulmonary changes after radiotherapy for conservative treatment of breast cancer: a prospective study.

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) after conservative surgery for breast cancer involves part of the pulmonary parenchyma with a potential detrimental effect of reducing the normal functional reserve. Such an effect deserves to be studied in depth, considering the given long life expectancy of these women. We prospectively analyzed high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) with correlation with dosimetric data from RT.