lead aprons to protect ribs??

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poetjanet
poetjanet Member Posts: 41
edited June 2014 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After

Hello All,

 I am eight months out from my radiation treatments and just now developed pain on and around my left ribs. Found out today that it was Costochondritis;  i.e. rib arthritis. 

Didn't dawn on me until hours later after seeing my doctor yesterday to try to find out what was wrong with me, that this might have been due to my radiation treatments. 

In doing a search I found a thread on here where others also developed this condition during or after radiation.  Someone mentioned requesting a lead apron during rads.   I mean gee whiz, we get to have lead aprons when ever we have our teeth X-rayed; why not when we have breast cancer radiation every week day for six weeks! Apparently many doctors don't think our ribs could or would be damaged from the radiation treatments; but the fact that a number of ladies complained of this seems to indicate to me that assumptions such as those may be incorrect.

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  • hymil
    hymil Member Posts: 826
    edited September 2010

    Depending what bit of you they want to treat, it may not be possible. Next to the actual breast, your ribs and chest wall is the bit that local spread of tumour would spread to, so the radiation does need to get there.

    But apparently it is focussed to improve the depth control - eg you would get a lower dose on the ribs (and other important stuff - the heart and great vessels have also been pointed out as vulnerable but unavoidably close) but you get a more concentrated dose on the soft tissue above the ribs, that's why we have so many treatments all from slightly different angles but all going through the same area underneath. At least that's how the radiographers explained it to me..

    Having said that, for younger women at least they should probably be considering lead aprons to protect your ovaries, so it's a question worth raising at the treatment centre. 

    I guess the other problem with arthritis in your ribs, well you can't just use them less, you still need to breathe!

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  • poetjanet
    poetjanet Member Posts: 41
    edited September 2010

    Hello Hymil,

     Thank you for your response.  If that area getting radiated is actually "necessary" to prevent the cancer from coming back; then it makes dealing with this pain easier to accept.  I just didn't want to have all of us out there having this damage to our bones and tissue needlessly. 

    Thanks again,

    Janet

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  • dixiecole
    dixiecole Member Posts: 1
    edited March 2011

    Dear All,

    Im preparing for an intitial appointment with my radiation oncologist this morning after undergoing breast cancer surgery on Feb. 24, 2011.  I have the opportunity to borrow a lead sheild to cover my throid gland and wondering if others have been allowed to use this devise during radiation therapy.

    Thank you, 

    Dixie 

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