Nuclear Medicine & Radiation Therapy

Imaging Toxicity of Radiation Therapy in Liver

Abstract

Hesheng Wang

Increasing radiation dose for better hepatic cancer control from radiation therapy (RT) is limited by the development of radiationinduced liver disease (RILD). Clinical syndrome of RILD occurs typically 2 weeks to 4 months after completion of RT. In severe cases, RILD can lead to liver failure and death. Using the Lyman-Kutcher- Burman NTCP model, the likelihood of developing RILD can be estimated based on the planned dose on the normal liver [1]. However, the models solely based on dose distribution which ignores individual liver sensitivity to RT that may allow safe delivery of higher radiation dose on some patients. Imaging can quantitatively assess normal tissue response to RT, and thereby it may be able to characterize individual liver tolerance to radiation and provide surrogates to early predict the development of RILD.