Follow-up on the long-term effects of therapeutic irradiation on bone marrow

Due to the paucity of literature on the long-term effects of therapeutic irradiation, the authors attempted to contact their own patients who had received prophylactic chest-wall irradiation for breast cancer in 1964. Sternal and iliac crest marrows were obtained in 5 of these women. While all iliac crest marrows were normocellular, 4 of the 5 sternal marrow aspirates remained aplastic 13 1/2 to 16 1/2 years after irradiation. The fifth was moderately hypocellular. Results were similar in 3 autopsied patients. Since the regeneration of bone marrow following 4,500 rads is unlikely in a 14-year period, a diagnostic marrow study from such a site would be of no value.