Radiotherapy can increase the risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease in head and neck cancer patients: A Korean population-based cohort study

Radiotherapy can increase the risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease in head and neck cancer patients: A Korean population-based cohort study: For HNC patients, RT is an essential curative and organ-preserving treatment modality, which can be delivered by itself or combined with chemotherapy or surgery. However, several reports have demonstrated that RT is related to an increased risk of CVD in HNC patients [1–3]. It might have resulted from the chronic side effects of RT on the large to medium vasculatures of the head and neck [1,4,5]. The exact mechanism of radiation-induced carotid or cerebral artery injury is not clear, but the intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery was reported to be significantly increased in nasopharyngeal cancer patients after RT compared with that of the control group [6].