Radiation-associated carotid artery atherosclerosis: case report and review of contemporaneous literature.

Radiation therapy (RT) is a component of the treatment of patients with head and neck malignancies. This therapy may damage the nearby carotid arteries, thereby initiating or accelerating the atherosclerotic process (atheroma formation). Dentists treating patients who have been irradiated should examine the patient's panoramic radiograph for evidence of atheroma-like calcifications, which appear 1.5 to 2.5 cm posterior and inferior to the angle of the mandible. Patients with evidence of such lesions should be referred to their primary care physician with the suggestion that an ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries is indicated.