Progress of diagnostic methods for radiation-induced heart damage

Radiation therapy is one of the primary treatments for chest malignant tumors. The heart is exposed inevitably under radiation, therefore, caused early or late structural or functional heart damage and even reduced severely the survival benefit of the radiotherapy patients. With the application of radiotherapy in chest malignant tumors, the morbidity of heart injury caused by radiotherapy increases accordingly. Therefore, the research on the method of diagnosis (hematology, imaging, etc.) of radioactive heart damage, and the early detection and guidance of early intervention are the major problems faced by modern clinicians.