title: Partial irradiation of the heart.
abstract: Radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) includes pericarditis, ischemic heart disease, and myocardial infarction and leads in some cases to fatal complications. It has been shown that the increased survival due to radiotherapy could be negated by excess deaths from RIHD in breast cancer radiotherapy for left-sided tumors. Subclinical effects following irradiation have been detected in several studies both of breast cancer and Hodgkin's irradiation. The dose-volume response relationships describing cardiac complications have been studied for pericarditis and cardiac mortality by means of biologic models, including the well-known Lyman-Kutcher-Burman (LKB) model and Källman's relative seriality model. Studies by Martel and coworkers on pericarditis and by Gagliardi and coworkers on cardiac mortality are reviewed. The anatomical and functional definition of the heart represents a key issue in modeling, as it affects strongly the dosimetrical data to be used as input data in the models. Several treatment strategies to decrease heart irradiation, based on models and/or based on dose-distribution evaluations, are reviewed. It is concluded that left-sided breast cancer patients should always be 3-dimensional (3D) dose planned.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Physics, Radiumhemmet, Karolinska Hospital, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. giovanna.gagliardi@ks.se
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gagliardi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lax
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Rutqvist
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D006801:Humans; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*