Vitiligo following radiotherapy for carcinoma of the breast

Radiotherapy-induced depigmentation in a patient with breast cancer

“…Fresh depigmented lesions in the radiation portals have however been previously reported in patients with vitiligo who underwent radiation for breast cancer or other cancers. [4][5][6][7] Our patient developed hypopigmentation 6 months after completion of radiotherapy, which is in contrast to the 2 months interval reported by Weizen et al [6] Furthermore, depigmentation developed in the area irradiated by the tangential portals and not in the skin irradiated by the supraclavicular portal. This is explained by a principle of radiation physics, according to which skin sparing will be more with a direct incident portal compared to an oblique or tangential portal.…”

Vitiligo at the Sites of Irradiation in a Patient with Hodgkin's Disease

“…However, this Koebner phenomenon after radiation treatment was reported in patients treated for carcinoma of the breast [9,12], malignant thymoma [8] and malignant melanoma [8], conditions usually treated with doses of 60 Gy and higher as well as for patients treated with Sr-90 derma plates [2]. Here we report the occurrence of vitiligo in a patient undergoing radiotherapy for Hodgkin's disease receiving doses from 30 to 40 Gy.…”

“…Common theories employ autoimmune, auto-cytotoxic and neural mechanisms [10]. Additionally, vitiliginous lesions, known as the Koebner phenomenon, occur at sites of trauma such as severe sunburn [1] or radiotherapy treatment [2,8,9,12]. Here we report the case of a patient with Hodgkin's disease and a history of vitiligo undergoing radiotherapy treatment after receiving a polychemotherapy.…”

“…Depigmentation of skin areas that received 0 Gy(2,4,6,9,11), 30 Gy (12), 36 Gy (8) and 40 Gy(1,3,5,7,10). Depigmentation of skin which received 30 Gy, was only complete in areas which had direct contact with the irradiation table.…”

“…Abbildung 1. Depigmentierung von Hautarealen, die 0 Gy(2,4,6,9,11), 30 Gy(12), 36 Gy (8) bzw. 40 Gy (1, 3, 5, 7, 10) erhalten haben.…”