**4. Subacute and late toxicity**

The subacute and/or late effects of radiation toxicity, by nature, are less visible and harder to identify for most emergency and primary care physicians. Often, these effects take many years to develop and are often mistaken as sequelae from another disease. However, they are nevertheless important to identify and address. A common misconception is that the degree to which a patient suffers from acute symptoms is proportional to severity of the long-term response. Unfortunately, patients who experience little to no acute sequela can experience serious long-term sequela, and vice versa. While both children and adults can experience the effects of late radiation toxicity, children are susceptible as they have a much longer period for these clinical manifestations to develop [13]. Unlike acute toxicity effects, anticipating long term effects is much more difficult. This technique relies heavily not only on a physician's knowledge of potential long-term effects, but also their willingness to investigate a potential long-term effect.
