David P. Spencer

TL;DR: In this paper, the first eight patients with lung cancer (nonsmall cell: seven, small cell: one) enrolled in a prospective study designed to evaluate physiological and molecular biologic correlates of radiation induced normal tissue injury are described.

TL;DR: SPECT lung scans provide an excellent means of assessing regional lung function, superior to that obtainable with planar images, and are useful in designing "optimal" radiation treatment beams and in assessing the effect of radiotherapy on regional lung functions.

TL;DR: Radiation therapy-induced regional lung dysfunction occurs in a dose-dependent manner and develops within 3-6 months following radiation and in contrast to classical "sigmoid" dose-response curves, these data suggest a more gradual relationship between regional dysfunction and RT dose.

TL;DR: The compiled data suggest that the previously presented guidelines may underestimate the risks of radiosurgery and additional clinical and experimental data are needed to determine "safe" doses of radiation to be used during radiosur surgery.

TL;DR: Lung perfusion scans provide functional information not provided by CT scans that can be useful in designing radiation treatment beams that minimize incidental irradiation of the function regions of the lung, especially in patients with gross intrathoracic lung cancer.