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¹Department of Radiation Oncology, Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne-Turkey
²Department of Radiation Oncology, İstinye University Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul-Turkey DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2022.S1004 Thoracic tumors are extremely common and radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of these malignancies. Cardiac radiation exposure which is inevitable during thoracic radiotherapy may damage the heart muscle, valves, or coronary arteries. If a malignant thoracic disease can be successfully treated with the contribution of radiotherapy, long-term cardiac toxicity will become a critical factor in determining survival. Therefore, radiation oncologists have recently focused on efforts to provide local disease control without causing toxicity. Over time, advances in radiotherapy techniques have made it possible to significantly limit the dose of cardiac structures while effectively treating the thoracic tumor. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy techniques are beneficial in reducing the cardiac dose and therefore cardiac toxicity. Advanced particle radiotherapy applications such as proton therapy have the potential to improve tumor cell killing efficiency and reduce the risk of cardiac complications. Close and longterm cooperation between radiation oncologists and cardiologists is important in the follow-up of patients undergoing thoracic radiotherapy. Keywords : Cardiotoxicity; lung cancer; thoracic radiotherapy; thoracic sarcomas; thymic tumors