Anthony M. Berson, MD

The article by Dr. Swift provides an excellent, comprehensive review of malignancies in the setting of HIV and their management with radiation. It is important for clinicians to have an understanding of the current antiviral management of HIV disease, as well as its implications for patient longevity. This information, in the context of an individual patient's history, is crucial in determining whether treatment will be "palliative" or "curative," and therefore, which radiation dose/fractionation schedule will be employed. With improved antiviral therapies and increasing longevity, the late effects of radiotherapy, as well as recall phenomena (recurrent radiation effects), with the subsequent use of chemotherapeutic agents, must now be considered.