Predicting the lung ventilation change caused by radiation therapy

描述(由申请人提供)： 为了提高肺放射治疗的局部控制率，需要更高的放射剂量，但受症状性放射性肺损伤风险的限制。预测放射性肺毒性的新方法有可能允许基于患者特定的辐射前肺生物力学特性的剂量递增。在这个方案中，我们假设通风是一个生物力学问题，可以通过有限元分析来解决。我们进一步假设，可以根据放射治疗导致的纤维化肺组织僵硬程度的增加来预测换气的变化。我们设计了一项前瞻性研究来检验这些假设。 公共卫生相关性： 肺癌是美国癌症死亡的主要原因，2008年有161,840人死于肺癌(美国癌症协会)。放射治疗结合化疗是局部晚期肺癌患者的标准护理。然而，联合治疗可能会导致严重的副作用。拟议的项目将有助于预测并通过患者特有的方法将风险降至最低。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): To improve the local control rate of lung radiation therapy, higher radiation dose is needed but limited by the risk of symptomatic radiation induced lung injury. Novel methods to predict radiation-induced lung toxicity have the potential to allow for dose escalation based on patient specific pre-radiation pulmonary biomechanical properties. In this proposal, we hypothesize that the ventilation is a biomechanical problem solvable by finite element analysis. We further hypothesize that the change in the ventilation can be predicted based on the increased rigidity of fibrotic lung tissue as a result of radiation therapy. We designed a prospective study to test these hypotheses. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States with 161,840 deaths attributed to lung cancer in 2008 (American Cancer Society). Radiation therapy in combination with chemotherapy is the standard of care for patients with locally advanced lung tumor. However, the combined therapy can result in severe side effects. The proposed project will help to predict and to minimize the risk by a patient specific approach.