Radiation To Healthy Lung Associated With Pulmonary-Related Death

Main Category: Asbestos / Mesothelioma
Also Included In: Respiratory / Asthma;  Radiology / Nuclear Medicine
Article Date: 30 Oct 2006 - 5:00 PDT

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A new study reveals that fatal pulmonary-related events following radiation therapy are associated with the amount of radiation received by the contralateral or healthy lung. Researchers from Anderson Cancer Center in Texas investigated the incidence of fatal pulmonary events in 63 patients with mesothelioma who underwent intensity modulated radiation therapy and extrapleural pneumonectomy. Endpoints were pulmonary-related death (PD), classified as death from pneumonia within six months of intensity modulated radiation therapy, or noncancer death, including all deaths except those related to PD or cancer. Researchers concluded that of the 10 percent of patients who died from PD, all had received significantly more radiation to their contralateral lung, compared with noncancer death patients.

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CHEST 2006 abstract briefs

Contact: Jennifer Stawarz
American College of Chest Physicians

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