IRRADIATION OF THE LIVER IN CHILDREN: REVIEW OF EXPERIENCE IN THE ACUTE AND CHRONIC PHASES, AND IN THE INTACT NORMAL AND PARTIALLY RESECTED

Evaluation of 115 children who had irradiation to the liver reveals an increase in abnormality of the parameters studied when large volumes of liver are irradiated or when the liver is irradiated following resection. To some extent, this is dependent on dose but abnormalities have been observed at doses below 2,499 rads and as low as 1,200 rads. Possibly, this may be related to the increased sensitivity of the younger child who generally received these lower dosages.Although evaluation in the chronic phase shows no significant difference of abnormality of age as related to dose, there does appear to be a slight trend in the acute phase of irradiation to implicate sensitivity of children under 1 year.