RALE
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysis of Radiotherapy Induced Lung damage
IRAS ID
271628
Contact name
Crispin Hiley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Joint Research Office
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 5 days
Research summary
Lung cancer is the 3rd most common cancer in the UK There were nearly 50,000 new cases of lung cancer in the UK in 2015 and more than 35,000 deaths attributed to it the following year (CRUK). Lung cancer of all stages is commonly treated with radiotherapy which involves uses high doses of radiation to target area of disease to achieve relief from symptoms, local control of disease and improved overall survival. However, even modern radiation can cause toxicity to normal tissues surrounding the tumours. The lungs themselves are particularly sensitive to radiation damage (Radiation Induced Lung Damage, RILD) and patients can be left with symptoms such as breathlessness, dry cough and wheeze after a course of treatment. A study of patients receiving chemo-radiation (CRT) has revealed that 100% of patients show signs of radiological lung damage at 12 months with standard CT imaging. The incidence of symptomatic RP is estimated to be in the range of 15–40%.
This study seeks to validate and expand work conducted by the RILD group at the Centre for Medical Imaging Computing (CMIC), UCL to gain a deeper understanding of RILD. Thus far, our work has been based on data from the IDEAL-CRT clinical trial which was a UK wide phase 1/2 radiotherapy trial looking at the outcome of patients who received CRT for non-small lung cancer. We have analysed computed tomography (CT) scans, along with other relevant clinical data, of patients who have completed radical radiotherapy for thoracic malignancies in order to better predict how radiotherapy affects normal lung tissue. The UCLH data allows us to take this work forward In addition to this, a prospective study gathering patient reported outcomes after radical radiotherapy will be performed in order to correlate the radiological changes with the symptoms and impact on quality of life.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SC/0395
Date of REC Opinion
18 Feb 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion