Making Radiation Therapy Safer for the Heart

Radiation therapy is part of the standard treatment for advanced lung cancer, but can cause heart rhythm abnormalities, also called arrhythmias.

In a study published in the peer-reviewed journal JACC: CardioOncology, Cedars-Sinai and Harvard University investigators devised a way to predict, based on the area of the heart exposed to radiation, the type of heart arrhythmia that can result. These findings could help radiation oncologists reduce lung cancer patients’ risk of arrhythmias and identify patients who may need additional cardiac monitoring.

“In this study, radiation oncologists, cardiologists, electrophysiologists and artificial intelligence specialists worked together to intricately map radiation exposure for lung cancer therapy to different regions of the heart,” said Katelyn Atkins, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, assistant professor of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai and first author of the study. “We observed that radiation exposure to key structures such as pulmonary veins, coronaries, and atria was associated with distinct arrhythmia types, potentially pointing to unique pathways of injury.”

Additional authors: Samuel C. Zhang, MD; Christopher Kehayias, PhD; Christian Guthier, PhD; John He, BA; Jordan O. Gasho, BS; Mina Bakhtiar, MD; Katrina D. Silos, BA; David E. Kozono, MD, PhD; Paul C. Zei, MD; Anju Nohria, MD; Andriana P. Nikolova, MD, PhD; Raymond H. Mak, MD.

Funding: Dr. Mak has received grant funding from AstraZeneca and ViewRay. Dr. Nohria has received research support from Bristol Myers Squibb; and has received consulting fees from Altathera Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Bantam Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Takeda Oncology.

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