Radiation sensitivity of tissues irradiated during mantle treatment of Hodgkins disease

irradiation of supradiaphragmatic Hodgkin's disease. It is hoped that this technique will produce better results than the involved-field technique. The value of such improvement may however possibly be reduced by an increased frequency and severity of late adverse effects of radiation, since the mantle field usually includes much more tissue than the involved-field treatment. LANDBERG et coll. ( 1971) in a preliminary report reviewed the literature and described some of the side effects of mantle treatment. The sequelae that have attracted most interest are those due to irradiation of the lung tissue, the heart and pericardium, the nervous system and the bone marrow and to some extent the mucous membranes, the thyroid and cdnnective tissue. This paper reports autopsy findings in different organs within the irradiated volume in two cases that had received mantle treatment with a split-course technique for Hodgkin's disease. It also reviews the radiation sensitivity of some of these tissues.