[Pericardial effusions and mediastinal radiotherapy. 4 cases]

Abstract

The authors report 4 cases of chronic pericardial effus-ons appearing several months after high dose mediastinal irradiation for Hodgkin's disease. They describe their clinical characteristics and course. The difficulties of differential diagnosis are mentioned, in particular recurrence of malignancy and tuberculosis. They stress the reserved long term prognosis and the absence of any specific therapeutic approach. The increasing use of madiastinal radiotherapy suggests that the incidence of such manifestations will increase.