front |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18 |19 |20 |21 |22 |23 |24 |25 |26 |27 |28 |29 |30 |31 |review

Organs or tissues most susceptible have high cell proliferation rates and include skin, bone marrow, gastrointestinal mucosa, liver and testes. The least susceptible organs and tissues replicate very slowly or not at all and include muscle cells, neurons and connective tissue. However, neural damage may be caused by commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs such as methotrexate, vinca alkaloids and cytosine arabinoside; bone injury may be caused by methotrexate; and cardiac sequelae can occur after treatment with adriamycin (36). Injuries in tissues or organs with low repair potential may be permanent or long lasting. Risk of late death from causes other than recurrence is greatest among survivors treated with a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy (13).