[Cardiotoxicity caused by radiation. Description of 2 clinical cases]

The paper reports two cases of valvular cardiac lesions and pericardial effusion caused by radiation. The widespread use of radiotherapy makes this a highly relevant problem. Radiation most frequently causes damage to the pericardium leading to pericardial effusion, and in some cases provokes myocardial, valvular and coronary lesions and even myocardial infarction. Cardiotoxicity depends on the radiation dose which must generally exceed 40 Gy. Radiated patients must be carefully monitored so as to diagnose cardiac lesions at an early stage. The ongoing improvement of radiotherapy techniques is the best means of preventing cardiac damage due to radiotherapy.