Analysis of 121 Cases of Radiation Pneumonitis

Objective To analyze the morbidity and treatment method of radiation pneumonitis.Methods From Jan 1998 to Dec 2003,121 of 1793 patients in our hospital who received thoracic radiotherapy have been diagnosed as radiation pneumonitis.We analyzed the morbidity of radiation pneumonitis in different primary diseases.We divided the patients into two groups according to the admission date: one group was admisioned to our hospital before July 1th,2001,the other was after that day.We compared the risks of radiation pneumonitis in the two groups and try to find the reasons and evaluate the curative effect of radiation pneumonitis.The patients with moderate-to-severe radiation pneumonitis were divided into two groups according to the different time that corticosteroid therapy persists: longer than 2 months,and shorter than that.Results The morbidity of radiation pneumonitis between year 2001～2003 are higher than that of 1998～2001 (P0.05).Multi-factor analysis showed that the type of primary disease,radiotherapy dose and adjuvant chemotherapy are the risk factors of radiation pneumonitis.The recurrence rate in the group which received corticosteroid therapy more than 2 months was lower than the other one (P0.05).Conclusion The morbidity of radiation pneumonitis has increased recently.Type of the primary disease,radiotherapy dose and adjuvant chemotherapy are the risk factors of radiation pneumonitis.Corticosteroid therapy for the moderate-to-severe radiation pneumonitis patients should persists for more than 2 months.