Late effects of radiation therapy in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease.

In the last two decades, a considerable amount of clinical and experimental animal data has been accumulated regarding the tolerance of the major normal tissues and organs traversed by the radiation beams in treating Hodgkin's disease. Typically, the tolerance of several tissues and organs must be considered in designing the very large radiation portals such as the mantle. Today, sophisticated machinery such as computerized tomography scanners, simulators, computers, and linear accelerators are available to improve the radiation planning and treatment of Hodgkin's disease. In this paper, we discuss the late effects of radiation therapy to the lung, heart, thyroid, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, and the gonads of adults with Hodgkin's disease. Emphasis is placed on our recommendations for modifications of radiation technique to improve the complication-free cure rate.