EFFECTS OF CHEMOTHERAPY AND RADIOTHERAPY ON BLOOD COMPONENTS OF BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide. It can be treated with surgery combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
This study aims to investigate the effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy on blood cell components of breast cancer patients who survived one of these therapies, in Al-Amal National Hospital for Cancer Management. Numbers of blood cells including white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC) and lymphocytes, and hemoglobin (HGB) concentration were measured in thirty-two women with eighteen of them treated with chemotherapy and the left treated with radiotherapy.
The results showed that the counts of WBC, RBC and lymphocytes decreased faster in the patients treated with chemotherapy compared to that in the patients treated with radiotherapy, whereas HGB concentrations only slightly changed with both treatments, upon four cycles of each treatment. These results support that radiotherapy may cause less side effects on breast cancer patients compared to chemotherapy.