Your doctors certainly let you down here. That radiation causes scar tissue to build in the carotids for years after treatment is not new news. In my own case I will soon be stented as the stenosis has gotten so bad that it interferes with my daily life. There were lots of warning signs for me, even without my oncology doctors ever talking about it that drove me to a cardiologist. Dizziness when getting up from laying down for instance. I'm not looking forward to the procedure, I know a little too much about the issues with stents. But I have no choices in this.

The radiation does more that change the elasticity of the arteries, it forms scar tissue inside them which narrows the blood flow (stenosis). If you think of how it forms scar tissue in the major muscles of the mouth causing trismus, you get the idea.

I'm sorry that this has happened to your family. Were there no troubling symptoms before things got this bad? Earlier this month I put a story in the OCF news feed about this which can be read at the link below. The issue for treatment centers is poor patient follow up, and poor information dissemination - even if it is given at the time of discharge - for something that may happen years down the road.

http://oralcancernews.org/wp/stroke-and-tia-risk-doubled-by-radiotherapy-study-finds/

Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.