What can be done about radiation damage to the organs surrounding the lesion when having chest radiotherapy? This article provides a brief overview of radiation esophagitis and heart injury.
Radiation esophagitis
It usually appears 2 weeks after chest radiotherapy and may last until the end of radiotherapy, or even a month or two after it ends. You may feel poor eating, dry, painful swallowing, or in severe cases, inability to eat, and may have a disturbed water-electrolyte balance.
If symptoms are not severe, you can take oral solutions that promote mucosal repair to reduce symptoms, eat a soft diet, do not eat foods that are too hot, too hard, and spicy and irritating to avoid aggravating mucosal damage, and in severe cases, you need to receive anti-inflammatory and intravenous nutritional support therapy under medical supervision.
In conclusion, symptoms should be seen promptly and treated early.
Radiation heart injury
Usually occurs more than six months after radiation therapy. The most common form of radiation heart injury is radiation pericarditis, which in the acute phase presents with fever, chest pain, dyspnea, pericardial effusion, and in severe cases, pericardial compression. If the pericarditis becomes chronic over time, there will be pericardial thickening or extensive fibrosis, which can affect heart function.
Other cardiac injuries include radiation cardiomyopathy, radiation coronary artery disease, and radiation valve injury.
There is no particularly ideal treatment for radiation heart injury. Prevention is most important, and your doctor will try to reduce the dose to your heart as much as possible. If you have pre-existing underlying cardiovascular disease, your doctor will assess the risk more carefully and ask you to follow up more closely for monitoring during and after treatment.
Summary: You should follow your doctor’s orders for treatment and care during treatment. You should also keep an eye on yourself and let your doctor know if you develop any of the related symptoms mentioned in the article, so that he or she can help manage them.
Co-reviewed by: Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital Guangdong Lung Cancer Research Institute Dr. Pan Lian Dr. Chen Zhiyong Dr. Zhang Jiatao