AbstractAim: To evaluate the changes in pulmonary function with concurrent chemoradiation. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 60 patients who had received 60 Gy radiotherapy, chemotherapy for primary NSCLC who had undergone pulmonary function tests (PFTs) before and within one year after treatment. Before every cycle of chemotherapy, pulmonary function tests were done. Postradiation PFT values (percentage of predicted) were evaluated amongst individual patients compared to the same patient’s preradiation value at the following time intervals: 0 to 4 months, 5 to 8 months, and 9 to 12 months. Results: Lung diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) is reduced in the majority of patients along the 3 time periods after radiation, whereas the forced expiratory volume in 1 second per unit of vital capacity (FEV1/VC) showed an increase and decrease after radiation in a similar percentage of patients. There were baseline differences (stage, RT dose, concurrent chemotherapy) among the radiation technology groups. On multivariate analysis, the following features were associated with larger post treatment declines in DLCO: pretreatment DLCO, gross tumor volume (GTV), Only pretreatment DLCO was associated with larger posttreatment declines in FEV1/VC. Conclusions: DLCO is reduced in the majority of the patients after chemoradiation.
Keywords: Radiotherapy; Chemotherapy; pulmonary function tests (PFTs).