Comparison of regional lung perfusion response on longitudinal MAA SPECT/CT in lung cancer patients treated with and without functional tissue-avoidance radiation therapy.

CONCLUSION: Functional lung avoidance planning may promote increased post-treatment perfusion in low dose regions for select patients, though inter-patient variability remains high in unbalanced cohorts. These preliminary findings form testable hypotheses that warrant subsequent validation in larger cohorts within randomised or case-matched control investigations. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This novel preliminary study reports differences in dose-response relationships between patients receiving functional lung avoidance radiation therapy (FLARE-RT) and those receiving conventionally planned radiation therapy (LUNG-RT). Following further validation and testing of these effects in larger patient populations, individualized estimation of regional lung perfusion dose-response may help refine future risk-adaptive strategies to minimize lung function deficits and toxicity incidence. PMID: 31364397 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The British Journal of Radiology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Br J Radiol Source Type: research