Is tumour sphericity an important prognostic factor in patients with lung cancer?

摘要

Background and purpose: Quantitative tumour shape features extracted from radiotherapy planning scans have shown potential as prognostic markers. In this study, we investigated if sphericity of the gross tumour volume (GTV) on planning computed tomography (CT) is an independent predictor of overall survival (OS) in lung cancer patients treated with standard radiotherapy. In the analysis, we considered whether tumour sphericity is correlated with clinical prognostic factors or influenced by the inclusion of lymph nodes in the GTV.