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REVIEW article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Radiation Oncology
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1429837
This article is part of the Research Topic Radiation Therapy and Organ Preservation: Controversies and Emerging Evidence View all 6 articles

A review on functional lung avoidance radiotherapy plan for lung cancer

Provisionally accepted
Hui Jin Yu Hui Jin Yu 1,2Feng Xiao Tang Feng Xiao Tang 2,3Fan Yi Lei Fan Yi Lei 1,2Lan Li Lan Li 2,3*Bai Han Bai Han 2,3*
  • 1 Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
  • 2 The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
  • 3 Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor in China. Its incidence and mortality rate increase year by year. In the synthesis treatment of lung cancer, radiotherapy (RT) plays a vital role, and radiation-induced lung injury(RILI) has become the major limiting factor in prescription dose escalation. Conventional RT is designed to minimize radiation exposure to healthy lungs without considering the inhomogeneity of lung function, which is significantly non-uniform in most patients. In accordance with the functional and structural heterogeneity of lung tissue, functional lung avoidance RT (FLART) can reduce radiation exposure to functional lung (FL), thus reducing RILI. Meanwhile, a dose-function histogram (DFH) was proposed to describe the dose parameters of the optimized image-guided RT plan. This paper reviews lung function imaging for lung cancer RT plans. It also reviews the clinical applications of function-guided RT plans and their current problems and research directions to provide better guidance for clinical selection.

    Keywords: Radiotherapy, lung function imaging, Lung functional image-based radiotherapy, Radiation-induced lung injury, clinical benefit

    Received: 08 May 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yu, Tang, Lei, Li and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lan Li, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
    Bai Han, Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.