Abstract
Purpose: The purpose was to determine the correlation of clinical factors and lung dose volume
parameters with significant radiation pneumonitis (RP) in non-small cell lung cancer
patients treated with combined modality therapy. Materials and Methods: Between January 2008 and December 2010, 52 patients of non-small cell lung cancer
were treated with combined modality therapy with radical intent. Radiation pneumonitis
was correlated with ipsilateral (V 20 ipsi, V 5 ipsi and MLD ipsi) and whole lung (V 20 , V 5 , and MLD) dose volume parameters. Clinical factors like pulmonary function tests
(PFT), site of tumor, planning target volume, and type of treatment were also correlated
with incidence of significant pneumonitis. Results: Out of 52 patients, 35.3% developed grade 2 or more pneumonitis. On univariate analysis,
factors significantly correlating with radiation pneumonitis were V 5 (P = 0.002), V 5 ipsi (P = 0.000), V 20 (P = 0.019), V 20 ipsi (P = 0.004), MLD (P = 0.008) and MLD ipsi (P = 0.008). On multivariate analysis, V 5 ipsi was retained as the most significant factor. Concurrent chemoradiation caused
significantly more RP than neoadjuvant chemoradiation (P = 0.004). A cutoff of 65% for V 5 ipsi had a sensitivity of 65% and a specificity of 91%. Conclusion: The correlation between pneumonitis and dosimetric constraints has been validated.
Adding ipsilateral V 20 , V 5 , and MLD to the classical total lung constraints identifies patients likely to develop
pulmonary toxicity in patients undergoing chemoradiation.
Key words
Chemoradiation - ipsilateral dose volume parameters - locally advanced non small cell
lung cancers - radiation pneumonitis