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Shortish answer:

There is no way to actually implement statistics for damage of the heart that will be correct. People have cancer at different places and radiologists do to the best of their abilities avoid radiation of the actual heart. The doctors does not always know why problems occur or even if the heart is damaged in many cases where people die.

Longish answer:

When radiation is given, this is not done in one massive dose from only one position.

Radiation damages tissue wherever it goes and a massive dose this way would do more harm than good. Different tissue react differently to radioactivity too.

Radiation is given from different angels, all directed towards tumors.

The combined radiation towards the tumor will severely damage it and it will die.

The rest of the body should ideally not be much damaged at all.

For the heart to be damaged, the tumors would need to be very close and the apparatus not "properly" adjusted/programmed.

A bit crude explanation but mostly to the point.

Radiation is however one of the most serious and violent forms of medicine practiced.

It may come with serious side effects, even heart and spinal damage.

Radiation therapy for lung cancer can cause serious damage to the heart. According to a 2005 review published in the journal "Seminars in Oncology," radiation therapy in lung cancer patients increased the risk of heart attack and congestive heart failure. It is important to reduce exposure of the heart to radiation during treatment as much as possible

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Q: What percentage of damage is done to the heart with radiation for breast cancer on the left breast?
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Radiation exposure causes damage to the cells of your body, which can mutate them. Mutated cells are sometimes referred to as cancer cells, and thus radiation can give you cancer. There are different effects from different kinds of radiation, but mutating cells is the basic form of damage that radiation does.


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