effects of radiotherapy 1 is not limited to tumor cells. However, as the effects of radiotherapy are local or locoregional, the histologic properties of irradiated tissues influence the clinical presentation of toxicity. Organs in the human body consist of functional units and, based on their arrangement, they can be classified either as parallel (eg, the lungs) or serial (eg, the esophagus). 3 For parallel organs, the percentage of irradiated volume and mean dose are the dose -limiting factors. Conversely, serial organs cannot tolerate excessive doses even to very small areas because the damage of just one segment can affect the function of the whole organ.Introduction Radiation therapy (RT) is an essential modality of cancer treatment and is used with curative or palliative intent in more than half of cancer patients. 1 External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is the most common type of RT, typically using a linear accelerator to deliver treatment. Brachytherapy (BT), the other major form of RT, is performed by direct insertion of the radioactive source into the body to deliver the dose in close proximity to a malignant lesion. The latter method spares a greater amount of normal tissues from dose exposure, but requires an invasive procedure. 2 The mechanism of cell killing from radiation is similar, regardless of the modality used, and