An exceptionally late and severe radiation recall dermatitis with chest-wall ulceration 32 years after breast radiotherapy: a case report and literature review

Description

Reina Kamohara and co-authors describe a 58-year-old woman whose chest wall broke down in a radiation recall reaction. The reaction came thirty-two years after her original breast radiotherapy. The authors call that interval exceptionally late for this drug-triggered phenomenon. She was receiving chemotherapy plus HER2-targeted antibodies for a new cancer on the other side when ulceration and tissue death erupted exactly inside the old radiation field.

Two of the drugs were stopped while the targeted antibodies continued, an early clue about the culprit. Healing demanded repeated surgical cleaning and intensive skin care, and the wound took roughly two years to close over, showing how fragile decades-old irradiated tissue remains. The authors urge clinicians to keep recall reactions on the list when patients with any history of radiotherapy, however distant, develop field-shaped skin breakdown during new drug treatment.

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Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13598040