Breast cancer surgery, anti-cancer chemotherapy, 1.5 times higher risk of lymphoma
Mar 11, 2025
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In addition, it has been shown that patients who have received chemotherapy treatment may have a maximum risk of lymphoma more than three times, depending on the anticancer drug used. In order to prevent lymphadenoma after breast cancer treatment, it seems that high-risk groups should be selected early according to the treatment method, and appropriate monitoring and rehabilitation treatment should be performed.
A joint research team led by Lee Ja-ho (research professor Jeong Seong-hoon) of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital and Chun Sung-min at Soonchunhyang University Hospital announced the results of further analysis on the 11th, depending on whether chemotherapy is performed, after five years of follow-up observation of the risk of lymphoma in patients first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006-2017.
According to the 2022 National Cancer Registry statistics, breast cancer accounts for 21.8% of all female cancers. The basic treatment for breast cancer is surgery, and adjuvant therapy (cancer chemotherapy, radiation therapy) is also used to prevent recurrence and metastasis. In this process, if the lymph nodes are damaged, swelling of the hands and arms occurs 'Lymphoma'. In severe cases, swelling increases and pain and stiffness are accompanied, leading to physical and psychological problems, and proper rehabilitation treatment is needed from the beginning of symptoms to prevent this.
The research team analyzed data from 114,638 breast cancer patients registered in the National Health Insurance Corporation and National Cancer Registration Statistics to systematically identify the risk of lymphoma according to breast cancer treatment methods. Depending on the treatment method, ▲surgery alone (control) ▲surgery + anti-cancer ▲surgery + radiation ▲surgery + anti-cancer ▲cancer alone ▲ anti-cancer + radiation group were classified.
After 5 years of follow-up, lymphadenoma occurred in 38.4% of all patients. The risk of developing lymphoma was higher in the order of the anticancer alone group (1.58 times), surgery + anticancer group (1.54 times), surgery + anticancer + radiation group (1.51 times), and anticancer + radiation group (1.13 times) compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in the surgery + radiation group. In other words, the treatment group including chemotherapy has a significantly higher risk of developing lymphoma than the surgery group alone, and in particular, it was confirmed that the risk increased by more than 1.5 times when combined with surgery. Meanwhile, the research team explained that the risk of lymphoma may be high in the anticancer alone group because the proportion of patients with high stage is relatively large.
Additionally, according to the surgical method, the risk of developing lymphadenoma was higher in the 'pre-excision group' than in the breast partial resection group and in the 'lympedectomy group' than in the lymph node maintenance group. In addition, the association between lymphoma and chemotherapy has been shown to increase in 'under 50 years of age without complications' and 'over 50 years of age with complications' according to patient characteristics.
The research team then analyzed the effect of chemotherapy on lymphoma when all other conditions, such as age, residence, and stage, are the same.
As a result, the anticancer group had a 1.95 times higher risk of developing lymphoma than the non-cancer group. In particular, among the types of anticancer drugs, users of 'Taxen' had the highest risk of developing lymphoma at 3.38 times, while users of anti-metabolic drugs and anthracycline were 1.79 times and 1.49 times higher, respectively.
In addition, it was confirmed that the risk of developing lymphatic edema due to chemotherapy increased significantly in patients who are likely to have damaged lymphatic systems at the time of diagnosis and those who are unable to detect and treat lymphoma early due to low medical access.
Professor Lee Ja-ho said "Based on large-scale data including the entire breast cancer population in Korea, patients who received chemotherapy have a high risk of developing lymphoma after treatment, and it is significant that Thaxen-based anticancer drugs are closely related."
Then, breast cancer patients treated with anti-cancer chemotherapy should practice regular arm circumference measurements, weight management, and active exercise to prevent lymphomaHe added that "the same high-risk group should also be provided with appropriate education on how to manage lymphoma and opportunities for rehabilitation."
Meanwhile, the findings were published in recent editions of the international journals 'BMC Cancer' and 'Supportive Care in Cancer' respectively.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
