[Morphological changes in lungs during chest irradiation]

Morphological characteristics of the lung are presented for rats and hamsters with esophageal and lung damages following chest exposure to 10-100 Gy. A four-month post-exposure follow-up revealed changes in the lung tissue in all cases. Depending on radiation dose, lung damages differed in genesis and time of development. These were either extensive secondary suppurative inflammation in the bronchi and alveolar parenchyma, to the point of empyemas, or radiation injuries proper of alveolar and bronchial epithelia, being degenerative and atrophic in nature. In four months after exposure to 18-42 Gy, the hamsters exhibited a pathological process, i.e. a basis for pulmonary fibrosis and cardiopulmonary insufficiency to be developed.