Pulmonary gas exchange following irradiation of cervical, mediastinal, hilar and axillary nodes.

In the treatment of Hodgkin’s disease according to KAPLAN (1966) the cervical, mediastinal, hilar and axillary nodes are irradiated. Although as much as possible of the lung tissue is protected from irradiation there is always a potential risk of pulmonary, mediastinal and myocardial injury. LARSSON et coll. (1976) have recently investigated the effect on the cardiovascular system. They found an increased incidence of ECG abnormalities, mainly T-wave changes and atrial arrhythmias, during treatment and also a considerable fall in the arterial blood pressure in about 20 per cent of the patients. However, 6 months after treatment the abnormalities had disappeared. The effect on the pulmonary gas exchange following irradiation of the mediastinal, hilar, cervical and axillary nodes is now reported.