A Prospective Cohort Study of Patients Receiving Radiotherapy for Thoracic and Breast Cancer and the Related Cardiotoxicity Following Treatment (RACCOON)

Cancer patients who undergo thoracic irradiation receive a certain amount of dose to the heart. Cardiotoxicity may occur in some patients several years after radiotherapy due to the late effect of radiation. Considering that cardiotoxicity is often lethal, screening and preventing radiation-induced cardiotoxicity is crucial in patients receiving thoracic irradiation.

Patients in this cohort will undergo cardiac evaluation before and after thoracic irradiation. The dose-volume parameters for each cardiac substructures will be estimated using artificial intelligence-based auto-segmentation of the heart in CT images. Dose-volume parameters that predict cardiotoxicity will be analyzed. Among the patients who developed cardiotoxicity, blood sampling will be performed to establish cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, which will be used for identifying the mechanisms of radiation-induced cardiotoxicity and therapeutic targets.