Analysis on ECG change from the patients with breast cancer who got the combined radiation and chemotherapy

Objective To investigate the damage of chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy to the heart of the patients with breast cancer.Methods 60 postoperative patients with breast cancer were randomly divided into the single chemotherapy group and the group of combined radiation and chemotherapy,there were 30 patients in each group,the patients from the single chemotherapy group received epirubicin,the patients from the group of combined radiation and chemotherapy received radiotherapy and epirubicin,the dynamic ECG monitoring were performed for the patients from two groups before and after treatment and took the statistical analysis for monitoring results,then,compared the degree of myocardial damage from two treatment methods.Results The average heart rate(88.7 +7.3 times/min) of the patients from the group of combined radiation and chemotherapy at 24 hours was significantly higher than that of chemotherapy group;7 cases had arrhythmia,4 cases had ST segment changes,6 cases had conduction abnormalities with 17 cases in total,the total abnormal rate was 56.7%,which was significantly higher than that of the single chemotherapy group,there was statistical significance on comparing the difference between two groups(P0.05 ).Conclusion Combining radiation with chemotherapy can cause more abnormal ECG cases on arrhythmias,conduction abnormalities and ST segment changes in patients with breast cancer than that of single chemotherapy group,it has effect of increasing heart damage,therefore,ECG should be regularly taken on treatment to ensure safety.