Clinical analysis of 14 patients with acute radiation phneumonitis in the superfractioned radiotherapy

Objective: To analyze retrospectively the relationship between irradiation dose/area and incidence of acute radiation pheumonitis in superfractioned radiotherapy and its therapeutic efficacy. Methods: From December 1998 to June 2002, 120 cases of lung cancer were treated with superfractioned radiotherapy. The treatment profile was as follows: the dose was 1.0- 1.25 Gy/fraction, 2 fractions/day, interval was 6 hours, 5 days/week, accumulated dose was 50 - 70 Gy. Results: There occurred 14 cases of acute radiation phneumonitis, with an incidence of 11.6% . The incidence of acute radiation phneumonitis for the irradiation doses of 55 Gy below, 55-65 Gy and 65 Gy above was 6.67%,9.52% and 16.6% respectively, while the incidence of irradiation area of 120 cm2 below and 120 cm2 above was 9.62% and 13.2% respectively. Remission rate of acute radiation phneumonitis was 85.71 % (12/14) after therapy. Conclusion: The incidence of acute radiation phneumonitis rises with the increase in radiation dose and area in superfractioned radiotherapy, but its incidence is not greater than that induced by conventional radiotherapy as reported in the literature. Symptoms and signs could be obviously relieved through proper treatment.