Hydrogels for Healing Radiation-Injured Tissues and Organs

Radiotherapy remains one of the main pillars of cancer treatment and is used in more than half of all oncological patients. Despite continuous technological improvements, ionizing radiation inevitably causes damage to surrounding healthy tissues, leading to acute and chronic complications affecting multiple organs, including the skin, mucosa, heart, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. Radiation-induced injuries significantly impair patients’ quality of life, limit therapeutic doses, and represent a major unmet clinical challenge. Hydrogels have emerged as a highly promising class of biomaterials for the management of radiation-associated tissue damage due to their high water content, tunable mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and ability to mimic the extracellular matrix. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the design of functional hydrogels, including stimuli-responsive, injectable, adhesive, and bioactive systems capable of delivering drugs, growth factors, antioxidants, or living cells. This review provides a comprehensive overview of radiation-induced injuries in different organs and summarizes current strategies employing hydrogel-based systems for their treatment. We discuss both therapeutic and preventive applications of hydrogels, highlighting their potential to protect healthy tissues, reduce inflammation and fibrosis, and promote tissue regeneration.