Abstract:
Objective To investigate the risk factors of acute radiation-induced lung injury in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after intensity-modulated radio therapy (IMRT) and establish a nomogram model to predict the corresponding risk.
Methods The clinical data of 216 patients with locally advanced NSCLC who were treated with IMRT in the Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University from May 2017 to November 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, including 94 males and 122 females, with an average age of 37–83(61.5±9.6) years old. Based on the occurrence of acute radiation-induced lung injury, the selected patients with locally advanced NSCLC were divided into the acute radiation-induced lung injury group and the non-acute radiation-induced lung injury group. Herein, count data were compared using the χ2 test, LASSO analysis, and Logistic regression analysis used to screen independent risk factors of acute radiation-induced lung injury in patients with locally advanced NSCLC after IMRT. In addition, the R software was used to predict the occurrence of acute radiation in patients with locally advanced NSCLC after IMRT. Risk nomogram model of lung injury, plotting calibration curve, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and decision curve.
Results Among 216 patients with locally advanced NSCLC, acute radiation-induced lung injury occurred in 65 patients after IMRT, with an incidence rate of 30.09%. Logistic regression analysis showed that age, V5, V20, V30, mean lung dose, forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), hypofractionated radiotherapy, and image verification are independent risk factors for acute radiation-induced lung injury in patients with locally advanced NSCLC after IMRT (OR=2.946–4.688, all P<0.05). The consistency index of the nomogram model for predicting the risk of acute radiation-induced lung injury in patients with locally advanced NSCLC after IMRT was 0.819(95%CI: 0.789–0.853), the calibration curve was close to the ideal curve, and the area under the ROC curve was 0.802, the decision curve shows that when the threshold probability is between 6% and 100%, hence, there is a higher net benefit value.
Conclusions The nomogram established based on age, V5, V20, V30, mean lung dose, FEV1, hypofractionated radiotherapy, and image verification has high accuracy in predicting the risk of acute radiation-induced lung injury in patients with locally advanced NSCLC after IMRT.