Neal L Weintraub, MD, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, 1459 Laney Walker Blvd., Augusta, GA 30912, United States. nweintraub@augusta.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Cardiol. Sep 26, 2016; 8(9): 504-519 Published online Sep 26, 2016. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v8.i9.504
Novel concepts in radiation-induced cardiovascular disease
Jason R Cuomo, Gyanendra K Sharma, Preston D Conger, Neal L Weintraub
Jason R Cuomo, Neal L Weintraub, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, United States
Gyanendra K Sharma, Preston D Conger, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, United States
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Supported by The National Institutes of Health to Neal L Weintraub, Nos. HL11264, HL126949, and AR070029.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Neal L Weintraub, MD, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, 1459 Laney Walker Blvd., Augusta, GA 30912, United States. nweintraub@augusta.edu
Telephone: +1-706-7216164 Fax: +1-706-7219799
Received: April 29, 2016 Peer-review started: April 29, 2016 First decision: June 17, 2016 Revised: July 14, 2016 Accepted: July 29, 2016 Article in press: August 1, 2016 Published online: September 26, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Radiation-induced cardiovascular disease is a common complication of mediastinal radiotherapy and often occurs years or decades after treatment. It most commonly manifests as chronic pericarditis, cardiomyopathy, and valvular or coronary heart disease. Its pathophysiology is chiefly that of radiation fibrosis, fueled by chronic states of inflammation and oxidative stress. Conventional risk factors impose additive risk to these patients and must be addressed as early as possible. Development of more sensitive imaging modalities is enabling detection at earlier stages of the disease and creating opportunities for novel treatment strategies. Percutaneous interventions have an increasing role in the treatment of symptomatic vascular and valvular disease.
