Lymphoma Patients Undergoing Mediastinal Radiotherapy in the Era of Modern Chemoradiation

Malignant anterior mediastinal tumors essentially include lymphomas and thymomas. The location of mediastinum is anatomically close to several critical organs such as heart, lung, and breasts, which might be affected meaningfully when the mediastinal region is irradiated. There have been quite a few studies investigating long-term toxicities concerning the above critical organs and risks of secondary malignancies related to treatment regimens combining chemotherapy and mediastinal radiotherapy. With the advancement of modern radiotherapy, highly conformal and intensity modulated radiotherapy have become a radiotherapeutic standard in recent years. However, most previous studies analyzed patients treated in the era of 2D techniques rather than conformal 3D plans. Almost inevitably, a large volume of the heart and lung was irradiated via the 2D technique with which substantial dose levels might be given to these organs unavoidably. Certainly long-term radiotherapy related toxicities are significantly associated with the dose and volume irradiating the normal organs at risk. Relying on the techniques of modern conformal radiotherapy and the contemporary strategy of multimodality therapy, the dose and volume irradiating the heart and lung were considerably reduced. Therefore, objective tools including heart echocardiography and lung function test will be utilized in this prospective study to evaluate and monitor mainly the patients diagnosed as malignant lymphoma who are recommended to receive mediastinal radiotherapy in the era of modern treatment strategy and techniques. The participants potentially included in the current study are mainly lymphoma patients with mediastinal malignant lymphoma or patients whose radiation therapy field essentially encompasses anterior mediastinum. Patients are prospectively enrolled in this study after physicians' clinical judgement. After signing the consent form, the recruited patient will receive comprehensive pre-radiotherapy evalu