Risk factors for symptomatic radiation pneumonitis after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Background And Purpose: Radiation pneumonitis (RP) can be a potential fatal toxicity of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for medically inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to examine the risk factors that predict RP and explore dosimetric tolerance for safe practice in a large institutional series of NSCLC patients.

Materials And Methods: Patients with early-stage and locally recurrent NSCLC who received lung SBRT between 2002 and 2015 formed the study population.