title: Double trouble: a tale of two radio-treatments.
abstract: In recent years, an increasing number of patients are treated with radiation. In the early era of radiotherapy, which began soon after X-rays were discovered by Roentgen in 1895, tumours were irradiated with high doses of X-rays in a single fraction. The major initial setback was the damage caused to normal tissues; however, in recent times the use of stereotactic radiosurgery, which delivers high doses of radiation precisely to abnormal tissue targets while sparing the surrounding normal brain tissue, and particularly for surgically inaccessible tumours, has taken centre stage. Prophylactic whole brain radiation (in conjunction with aggressive chemotherapy) for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia has been shown to improve patient survival, however, this is associated with complications in survivors. We report an interesting case of one of the longest survivors who has had double complications from radiotherapy-based interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, Coventry, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Ebere Sunny
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Ogbonnaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peev
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, Coventry, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Sanjoy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagaraja
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, Coventry, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Ronan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dardis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008579:Meningioma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D009336:Necrosis / Q000209:etiology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000009:adverse effects*