TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Radiation Pneumonitis A1 - Laird, James H. A1 - Roberts, Kenneth B. A1 - Decker, Roy H. A1 - Park, Henry S. A2 - Grippi, Michael A. A2 - Antin-Ozerkis, Danielle E. A2 - Dela Cruz, Charles S. A2 - Kotloff, Robert M. A2 - Kotton, Camille Nelson A2 - Pack, Allan I. Y1 - 2023 N1 - T2 - Fishman’s Pulmonary Diseases and Disorders, 6e AB - The discovery of x-rays by Roentgen in 1895 and of radium by the Curies in 1898 revolutionized medicine at the turn of the 20th century.1–3 Roentgen’s first paper on x-rays illustrated the power of diagnostic imaging with a remarkably detailed radiographic image of Frau Roentgen’s hand. As researchers around the world built vacuum tubes and acquired radioactive sources for their studies, it rapidly became apparent that these invisible radiations could produce dangerous, and even lethal, injuries.1–3 Erythema, chronic dermatitis, ulceration, loss of hair, and eye injuries were soon reported in patients who received large doses of radiation during prolonged fluoroscopy procedures, and further toxicities were observed in physicians, technicians, and scientists exposed to unshielded radiation sources. The development of these radiation injuries suggested that radiation might be useful in the treatment of cancer; indeed, patients with cancer were treated with radiation therapy as early as 1896.1–3 Radiation was found to inhibit the growth of tumors, but this benefit came with the cost of injury to normal tissues within the irradiated areas. The relative sensitivity of the lung to injury from radiation became apparent early in the development of radiation oncology. The clinical syndromes of dyspnea, cough, fever, and radiographic infiltrates occurring weeks to months after irradiation of the thorax were dramatic enough to be described as early as 1922.4 SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/29 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1195006118 ER -