[Etiology of pericardial effusion following radiation therapy of Hodgkin's disease].

Radiation doses delivered to the anterior pericardium between 1969 and 1979 were ascertained in 16 patients with Hodgkin's disease, in whom pericardial effusions had developed after multiple-field therapy using 5 ventral fixed fields to the mediastinum as a supra-diaphragmatic primary treatment. The appearance of effusions was directly dependent on the dosage, if doses between 53 and 128 Gy had been delivered; in such patients, seriousness of the clinical symptoms was related to the importance of the dose delivered to the anterior pericardium. Control groups consisted of two collectives comprising 9 patients with primary pericardial affection due to Hodgkin's disease, and 11 comparable further patients without complications after mantle treatment; in these collectives, one case in the second group excepted, antisarcolemmal antibodies were not observed. On the other hand, these antibodies could be detected in 5 out of 11 patients with Hodgkin's disease who suffered from pericardial complications following radiation therapy. Possible diagnostic and pathogenetic significance of the present findings is discussed.