Histological changes in the cervical lymph nodes after radiotherapy

Radiotherapy to the neck is frequently employed in the treatment of maligna ncies, sometimes alone and sometimes before or after surgery or with or wit hout chemotherapy. We checked the histopathological changes in the neck aft er radiotherapy, dividing the changes into two groups. One with short-term changes between six months to one year, and the second group with long-term changes after more than six years. We compared these two groups with a con trol group without radiotherapy. The changes in the longterm group were mor e pronounced than in the short-term group, with more stromal fibrosis, vasc ular changes, and specially lymph nodes smaller than one centimeter. Thus, bigger lymph nodes (more then one centimeter) are more radiosensitive and b ecome smaller after six years.