Relationship between radiation doses to heart substructures and radiation pneumonitis in patients with thymic epithelial tumors.

ABSTRACT: Radiation doses to the heart are potentially high in patients undergoing radiotherapy for thymoma or thymic carcinoma because of their origin site and propensity for pericardial invasion. We investigated potential relationships between radiation pneumonitis (RP) and the dosimetric parameters of lung and heart substructures in patients with thymic epithelial tumors. This retrospective study included 70 consecutive patients who received definitive or postoperative radiotherapy at a median dose of 58.3 Gy. Heart substructures were delineated according to a published atlas. The primary end point of ≥ grade 2 RP was observed in 13 patients (19%) despite a low lung dose; median lung V20 (i.e. percentage of the volume receiving at least 20 Gy) was only 16.6%. In a univariate analysis, four lung p

SUBMITTER: Tomita N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7340766 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature