Pulmonary complications in chemotherapy

Abstract

Many chemotherapeutic agents have a direct or indirect toxic effect on the lungs and airways which can lead to potentially fatal complications. It is a diagnostic challenge to identify such changes by imaging early as they are often unspecific and can be misinterpreted as pulmonary edema, infections, radiation pneumonitis or progression of an underlying disease. In this review the morphological changes of the lungs and airways are summarized according to anatomical location and some of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents and their adverse effects are listed.