TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 2007 , Vol 22 , Num 1
The fatigue rate and association with serum cytokine and leptin levels in breast cancer patients undergoing postmastectomy radiotherapy: a prospective evaluation
Diclehan ÜNSAL,1 Atınç AKSU,2 Ümit BAĞRIAÇIK,3 Müge AKMANSU1
1Gazi Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Radyasyon Onkolojisi Anabilim Dalı,
2Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Kartal Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi Radyasyon Onkolojisi Bölümü
3Gazi Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi İmmünoloji Anabilim Dalı OBJECTIVES
To investigate the fatigue rate during postmastectomy radiotherapy (RT) and the correlation between fatigue and serum cytokines and leptin levels.

METHODS
Thirty-eight, stage II-III breast cancer patients undergoing RT were evaluated with quality of life, Cancer Fatigue Scale, Visual Analogue Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the serum inflammatory cytokine and leptin levels were measured. The association of serum marker levels with fatigue was analyzed.

RESULTS
The fatigue rate increased during RT and decreased to pretreatment levels at 2 months following RT. Serum cytokine levels were not significantly changed with RT and was not found to be correlated with fatigue. Fatigue rate was found to be increased in cases with high leptin levels. A correlation was determined between preRT serum leptin levels and postRT fatigue rates (p=0.01).

CONCLUSION
It is found that fatigue increases during RT; fatigue is correlated with high serum leptin levels and decreases to pretreatment levels at 2 months following RT. Keywords : Breast neoplasms/radiotherapy; cytokine; fatigue/etiology; leptin; radiotherapy