An esophagus-sparing technique to limit radiation esophagitis in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated by simultaneous integrated boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of patients

Characteristics	Patients (n = 87) No. (%)		P value
Characteristics	Esophagus-sparing (n = 44)	Standard (n = 43)	P value
Sex			0.066
Male	32	38
Female	12	5
Age (year), median (range)	56 (34–76)	58 (33–77)	0.476
Clinical stage of primary tumor (7th edition)			0.577
IIIA	20	17
IIIB	24	26
N stage			0.120
1	4	0
2	24	24
3	16	19
Histology			0.646
Adenocarcinoma	22	19
Squamous cell carcinoma	20	20
Other	2	4
RT dose (Gy), median (range)	63.8 (60–66)	65 (63–67.6)	0.068
BED (Gy), median (range)	81 (74–85)	81 (78–85)	0.064
GTV volume (cm³), median (range)	83.7 (25.1–275.3)	88.2 (22.3–281.4)	0.472
Minimum distance between GTV and esophagus (mm)	7 (0–32)	6 (0–29)	0.621
Concurrent chemotherapy			0.422
Nedaplatin or cisplatin + Paclitaxel/docetaxel	35	37
Nedaplatin or cisplatin + Pemetrexed	9	6
Radiation esophagitis			0.002
G0–2	42	30
G3	2	13
SGA (before CCRT)			0.670
A	41	39
B	3	4
SGA (after CCRT)			0.045
A	36	25
B	8	17
C	0	1
Hearth V30 (%)	20.70	18.20	0.665
Dose to the esophagus
Dmax (Gy)	64.67	70.03	0.002
Dmean (Gy)	26.25	36.77	0.000
V45 (%)	33.76	54.51	0.000
V50 (%)	20.75	48.41	0.000
V55 (%)	11.25	37.41	0.000
V60 (%)	6.12	21.64	0.000

Abbreviations: RT Radiotherapy, BED Biological effective dose, SGA Subjective Global Assessment, CCRT Concurrent chemoradiotherapy, Dmax max dose, Dmean Mean dose, Vx Volume of esophagus receiving x Gy

ISSN: 1748-717X