Impact of lung and heart dose on survival after radiotherapy for esophageal cancer.

3Background: Chemoradiation is an essential tool in treatment of localized esophageal cancer. Recent data indicates that cardiac dose is an independent predictor of survival after chemoradiation for locally advanced lung cancer. However, the impact of normal tissue dose in esophageal cancer has not been well characterized. We investigated cardiac and pulmonary dose-volume histogram (DVH) metrics as potential predictors of overall survival (OS) after chemoradiation for esophageal cancer. Methods: We reviewed 453 consecutive patients with stage I-III esophageal cancer treated with definitive or preoperative chemoradiation (median dose 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions) between 2007 and 2015 at our center. Most (n = 442) received intensity-modulated radiation therapy. Radiation plans were reviewed and multiple DVH metrics for heart (max and mean dose, V5Gy, V10Gy, V20Gy, V30Gy, and V40Gy) and lung (mean dose, V5Gy, and V20Gy) were extracted for analysis. Other clinical covariates (surgery, performance status, stage, a...