radiation induced heart attack, blocked arteries

[sarah]

Hello,
Thought I should mention this. This winter I had breathing problems and pain in my chest in the cold weather while walking my dog. I thought it was winter asthma but apparently I had a heart attack!
I had 2 heart sonograms and EKGs that were perfect but a scintigraphie and coronography showed:
heart attack and muscle damage
100% blocked artery
also the pneumonologist found a fibroid in my lung.
all of this due to radiation to my chest. All the cardiologists I saw said it's radiation. no plak to speak of and low colesterol. They check the tattoo marks for the radiation and this fell right in it. I asked about chemo and Herceptin and they all said, no it's the radiation.
I had very heavy radiation in the center of my chest due to a recurrence and invasive cancer over the sternum.
so if you've had radiation there and start having chest pains, check it out with a cardiologist.
I have now had angioplasty to unblock the artery but I am still having breathing problems.
no more chest pain but it's now warm weather so will have to wait until next winter to know for sure.
I hadn't ever heard about this but when I checked the angioplasty site greg mentioned, I found others with this problem.
take care
health and happiness.