Radiation-Induced Carotid Atherosclerosis

Abstract The effects of radiotherapy in carotid arteries are similar to those on most other tissues as radiation leads to microvascular damage, inflammation, fibrosis, and subsequent carotid intima-medial thickening. Neck irradiation has been shown to significantly increase stroke risk. Although radiotherapy-induced pathologic changes observed in carotid arteries are morphologically similar to atherosclerotic disease, they show different distribution and have etiologically shown no relation with risk factors of the classical atherosclerotic disease.