Beata Mladosievičová, Vasil Hricák
Radiation therapy (RT) has evolved to become one of the cornerstones of treatment in more than 40 % of patients with
cancer. Late cardiovascular effects are seen often in cancer survivors with prolonged time elapsed from completion
of therapy. Studies have shown that the patients after chest radiation have an increased risk for coronary artery disease,
valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathy with or without heart failure, pericardial disease, arrhythmias and sudden
death. The risk is particularly high in patients treated before the age of 40 years with doses greater than 35 Gy and
followed up more than 10 years. The most studies dealing with the late cardiovascular complications after radiotherapy
are in survivors of malignancies with high curability, such as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, early stages of breast cancer and
testicular cancer.