Relevance between patients' clinical factors and 4D-CT lung ventilation heterogeneity for evaluating the adoption of functional avoidance thoracic radiotherapy with a large patient database

Objective

Four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT)-guided functional-avoidance radiotherapy reduces radiation pneumonitis, but the lack of patient selection criteria limits its adoption. This study aimed to identify clinical predictors of lung ventilation heterogeneity and determine which patients derive the greatest dosimetric benefit from functional-avoidance planning.