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Introduction: We prospectively evaluated morphologic and functional changes in the carotid arteries of patients treated with unilateral neck radiation therapy (RT) for head and neck cancer., Methods: Bilateral carotid artery duplex studies were performed at 0, 3, 6, 12, 18 months and 2, 3, 4, and 5 years following RT. Intima media thickness (IMT); global and regional circumferential, as well as radial strain, arterial elasticity, stiffness, and distensibility were calculated., Results: Thirty-eight patients were included. A significant difference in the IMT from baseline between irradiated and unirradiated carotid arteries was detected at 18 months (median, 0.073 mm vs -0.003 mm; P = 0.014), which increased at 3 and 4 years (0.128 mm vs 0.013 mm, P = 0.016, and 0.177 mm vs 0.023 mm, P = 0.0002, respectively). A significant transient change was noted in global circumferential strain between the irradiated and unirradiated arteries at 6 months (median difference, -0.89, P = 0.023), which did not persist. No significant differences were detected in the other measures of elasticity, stiffness, and distensibility., Conclusions: Functional and morphologic changes of the carotid arteries detected by carotid ultrasound, such as changes in global circumferential strain at 6 months and carotid IMT at 18 months, may be useful for the early detection of radiation-induced carotid artery injury, can guide future research aiming to mitigate carotid artery stenosis, and should be considered for clinical surveillance survivorship recommendations after head and neck RT., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The statistical analysis was supported in part by the NIH/NCI Cancer Center Support Grant (award number P30 CA016672) and used the Biostatistics Resource Group. EK is supported in part by NIH/NCI 1R01 HL157273 and CPRIT RP200381 both of which are not related to the current work. Dr. Fuller has received unrelated grants/honoraria from Elekta AB, has received travel support from Philips Medical Systems, and has served in an advisory capacity for Siemens Healthineers., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Hypertension is a common adverse effect of certain anti neoplastic therapy. The incidence and severity of hypertension are dependent mainly on the type and the dose of the drug., Methods: We reviewed the literature for studies that reported the effect of anti neoplastic agents on blood pressure in patients with malignancies. The medical databases of PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched for articles published in English between 1955 and June 2012. The effects of specific agents on blood pressure were analyzed., Results and Conclusions: Hypertension is a prevalent adverse effect of many of the new chemotherapy agents such as VEGF inhibitors. Approximately 30% of patients treated for cancer will have concomitant hypertension, and crucial chemotherapy can sometimes be stopped due to new onset or worsening severe hypertension. The importance of a timely diagnosis and optimal management of HTN in this group of patients is related to the facts that HTN is a well established risk factor for chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity and if left untreated, can alter cancer management and result in dose reductions or termination of anti-cancer treatments as well as life-threatening end organ damage., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)