Usefulness of Simple Original Interstitial Lung Abnormality Scores for Predicting Radiation Pneumonitis Requiring Steroidal Treatment After Definitive Radiation Therapy for Patients With Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

PURPOSE: Adjuvant durvalumab has become a standard treatment after chemoradiation therapy for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). Accordingly, predicting radiation pneumonitis (RP) requiring steroidal treatment (steroid-RP) is of utmost importance because steroidal administration is reported to weaken the effectiveness of immunotherapy. However, grade 2 RP was used as an index of RP in previous studies, but it is an ambiguous definition because it includes not only steroid-RP but also a mild cough requiring only a cough medicine. Therefore, in this study, steroid-RP was used for evaluating RP, and the purpose of this study was to investigate predictive factors of steroid-RP, including original simple interstitial lung abnormality scores (ILASs). METHODS AND MATERIALS: A total of 145 patients with LA-NSCLC who received definitive radiation therapy (DRT) in our institution from January 2014 to May 2017 were identified. Original ILASs, performance status, age, respiratory function, Brinkman index, concurrent administration of chemotherapy, and dose–volume histogram metrics of the lung were analyzed to evaluate their association with steroid-RP. Additionally, 3 diagnostic radiologists evaluated the patients’ pre-DRT chest computed tomography images and determined the simple ILASs. ILASs were rated as follows: 0: none; 1: abnormality without honeycombing (ground-glass attenuation, fine reticular opacity, and microcysts); and 2: honeycombing. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 729 days. Thirty-one patients (21.4%) experienced steroid-RP. In the univariate analysis, lung V5/V10/VS5, Brinkman index, and ILASs were significant predictive factors of steroid-RP. Additionally, multivariate analysis including Brinkman index ≥840, lung V5 ≥37%, and an ILAS ≥1 revealed that only an ILAS (P = .001) was an independent predictive factor of steroid-RP. CONCLUSIONS: The original simple ILAS was an easy-to-use tool and a significant predictive factor of steroid-RP in DRT in patients with LA-NSCLC.