Possibility of the dose reduction to the thyroid during neck irradiation in modern programs of chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy for Hodgkin's disease in children and adolescents

The authors propose shielding of the thyroid with lead blocks to reduce the incidence of radiation damage to the thyroid in children with Hodgkin's disease. Dosimetric investigation was performed to assess the dose to the thyroid during irradiation with shielding blocks and without them. Preliminary clinical observation of 37 patients has not shown decrease of anti-tumor effect and has demonstrated some drop of hypothyreosis incidence after applying the method of thyroid sparing. It is necessary to follow-up the patients for longer period and apply the method in larger population of patients to evaluate the method further.