Complications of head and neck radiation therapy and their management

Patients who receive radiation therapy to the head and neck suffer potential complications and undesirable side-effects of this therapy. The extent of undesirable responses is dependent on the source of irradiation, the fields of irradiation, and the dose. The radiotherapist determines these factors by the extent, location, and radiosensitivity of the tumor. The potential undesirable side-effects are xerostomia, mucositis, fibrosis, trismus, dermatitis, photosensitivity, radiation caries, soft tissue necrosis, and osteoradionecrosis. Each of these clinical entities and their proposed management have been discussed.