Radiation damage

Abstract

Radiotherapy is the therapeutic use of -rays or X-rays to treat malignancies mediated by direct DNA damage or by the creation of free intracellular radicals. Radiotherapy is predominantly a local and locoregional treatment modality, which forms together with surgery and chemotherapy the backbone of modern oncological management strategies. Radiation-induced acute or late effects have been well documented. As early as 1899, Gassman described radiodermatitis and vascular lesions in association with radiation.1 The prevalence of radiotherapyinduced late effects has increased. This is due to the continuous improvement in overall survival of pediatric and adolescent patients and, in turn, this has exposed the long gestation for the development of clinically important sequelae.