Research progress on the mechanism of radiation-induced lung injury / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is a common complication in thoracic cancer patients through radiotherapy, which can be divided into the early-stage radiation-induced pneumonitis (RP) and late-stage radiation-induced lung fibrosis (RILF). At present, glucocorticoids are mainly adopted in the clinical treatment of RP. However, there has been no effective medical treatment for RILF. RILF patients will eventually die from respiratory failure. The exact mechanism of RILI remains unclear. Current studies have proposed that its possible pathogenesis might consist of genetic heterogeneity, oxidative stress and cell damage. In this review, studies related to the pathogenesis of RILI were summarized.