Predictive factors of symptomatic radiation pneumonitis in primary and metastatic lung tumors treated with stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy

PURPOSE: Although stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) is widely used therapeutic technique, predictive factors of radiation pneumonitis (RP) after SABR remain undefined. We aimed to investigate the predictive factors affecting RP in patients with primary or metastatic lung tumors who received SABR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2012 to 2015, we reviewed 59 patients with 72 primary or metastatic lung tumors treated with SABR, and performed analyses of clinical and dosimetric variables related to symptomatic RP. SABR was delivered as 45–60 Gy in 3–4 fractions, which were over 100 Gy in BED when the α/β value was assumed to be 10. Tumor volume and other various dose volume factors were analyzed using median value as a cutoff value. RP was graded per the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.03. RESULTS: At the median follow-up period of 11 months, symptomatic RP was observed in 13 lesions (12 patients, 18.1%), including grade 2 RP in 11 lesions and grade 3 in 2 lesions. Patients with planning target volume (PTV) of ≤14.35 mL had significantly lower rates of symptomatic RP when compared to others (8.6% vs. 27%; p = 0.048). Rates of symptomatic RP in patients with internal gross tumor volume (iGTV) >4.21 mL were higher than with ≤4.21 mL (29.7% vs. 6.1%; p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of symptomatic RP following treatment with SABR was acceptable with grade 2 RP being observed in most patients. iGTV over 4.21 mL and PTV of over 14.35 mL were significant predictive factors related to symptomatic RP.