Abstract 12870: Age and Sex Disparities in Severe Valvular Diseases in Cancer Survivors Treated With Thoracic Radiation

IntroductionDespite the beneficial effects of radiation therapy in patients with thoracic cancers, significant morbidities due to cardiovascular diseases have been reported. Since breast cancer is one of the most radiosensitive thoracic cancers, majority of females with breast cancers undergo curative radiotherapy. This may lead to major health disparities in cardiovascular diseases in female patients.HypothesisWe hypothesized that the age and sex disparities on the prevalence of severe stenotic valvular lesions can be explained by prior history of thoracic radiation exposure in cancer survivors.MethodsOver the last 6 years, we examined 66 thoracic cancer survivors treated with curative chest radiotherapy. These patients initially presented to our tertiary care center with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. As controls, we examined 544 other patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, but without the history of thoracic radiation exposure. Our primary comparison variables were age and gender disparities, along with co-existing comorbidities. Comparisons were made using the Mann-Whitney U and Fisher’s exact tests for continuous and categorical variables, respectively.ResultsAmong the 66 cancer survivors treated with chest radiotherapy, the patients who received prior thoracic radiation were more likely to be females (females 69.7%; males 44.9%; p