Post-Mastectomy Radiation: How to Keep Scar Tissue from Squeezing the Implant
After a mastectomy, a woman often gets an implant, and then the chest is irradiated to kill any remaining cancer cells. Proton therapy is great because it hits the target precisely and spares the heart and lungs. But in some patients, a dense scar capsule forms around the implant: it squeezes the implant, making the breast hard and painful. This is called capsular contracture.