Analysis of cardiac toxicity after definitive chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer using a biological dose–volume histogram

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between cardiac toxicity after definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for esophageal cancer and the dose–volume histogram (DVH) of organs at risk (OARs) [using biological effective dose (BED)]. We analyzed the data of 83 patients with esophageal cancer treated using definitive CRT between 2001 and 2016. Furthermore, we evaluated pericardial effusion (PE) as a measure of cardiac toxicity. The median total irradiation dose was 60 (50.4–71) Gy. Symptomatic PE was observed in 12 (14%) patients. The heart and pericardium V5–V100-BED were significantly higher in patients with symptomatic PE than in those without symptomatic PE (heart: V5–V95-BED, P < 0.001; V100-BED, P = 0.0053, and pericardium: V5–V40-BED, V55–V95-BED, P < 0.001; V45–50-BED, V100-BED, P < 0.05, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the dose–volume parameter of the pericardium and the heart that was most strongly associated with an adverse cardiac event was V80-BED, and the mean dose and the cut-off value were 27.38% and 61.7 Gy-BED, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that the pericardium V80-BED and the mean heart dose-BED were risk factors for symptomatic PE (P < 0.001, respectively). We revealed the relationship between the irradiated dose of the OARs and symptomatic PE using a BED-based dose–volume histogram. Pericardium V80-BED and mean heart dose-BED were the most relevant risk factors for symptomatic PE.