Demystifying the Results of RTOG 0617: Identification of Dose Sensitive Cardiac Subregions Associated With Overall Survival

Abstract

Dose to the base of the heart is associated with overall survival, partly removing the radiation level effect, and explaining that worse survival in the high-dose arm is owing, in part, to the heart subregion dose. By defining a heart avoidance region, future dose escalation trials may be feasible.