Definition
Radiation therapy injury represents the sum of injuries to the gastric mucosa caused by ionizing radiation. This type of iatrogenic injury is associated with either external beam therapy or brachytherapy utilized as part of the treatment of various cancers (e.g., esophagus, lung, liver) or as part of induction therapy of future bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients.
No definite minimal dosage is associated with a diagnosis of radiation injury, but symptoms start to occur at doses in the range of 40–50 Gy. Major complications tend to develop with increasing dosage. Gastric ulcers occur in approximately 15% of patients who received a cumulative dose of 50 Gy and gastric perforation in 6% of patients who accumulated 40–50 Gy, 10% of those irradiated to 50–60 Gy, and 38% of a small cohort of patients irradiated to over 60 Gy.
Clinical Features
The patients usually complain of nausea shortly after the delivery of the radiation. The symptoms are generally transient and will...
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Liang, WY., Lauwers, G.Y. (2017). Radiation Therapy Injury, Upper Gastrointestinal Tract. In: Carneiro, F., Chaves, P., Ensari, A. (eds) Pathology of the Gastrointestinal Tract. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40560-5_1677
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40560-5_1677
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