(Sunday, 7/14/2019)
Room: ePoster Forums
Purpose: Radiation-induced lung injury is a common side effect in the treatment of lung and breast cancers. There is a large focus in the field on leveraging murine models of radiation-induced lung injury to find novel treatments for the condition. While attempting to irradiate mice lungs for purposes of creating a radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis model, noticeable declines in health were observed at much earlier timepoints than recorded for lung pathology. This was later attributed to stomach pathology observed in CT images and ex-vivo dissection.
Methods: For this study, we used longitudinal microCT to characterize male C57Bl/6 mice irradiated with a single dose of 20 Gy to the whole thoracic area delivered by an X-Rad cabinet irradiator. CT was performed with respiratory gating at 2 to 4 week timepoints to construct a timeline of pathology leading up to fibrosis and to quantify severity of fibrosis afterwards. However, several mice imaged at the 4 week timepoint showed evidence of stomach distention. These mice were sacrificed and their stomachs removed. Histology was performed on the stomachs using H&E staining.
Results: On the CT images, we observed a large, spherical volume of hypointense signal, caudal to the lungs (Figure 1). This correlates with a distended stomach caused by constipation and gas build-up within the stomach. Mice sacrificed and dissected showed unpassed bolus as contents of the stomach, and histology showed cell necrosis of the stomach walls.
Conclusion: The histology indicated an inability for food to be digested and moved into the small intestine. This lead to a blockage and ensuing stomach distention. Given the severity of the pathology’s consequences, it lead to the mice's imminent mortality. Shields or any beam-contouring devices need careful placement to ensure protection of the stomach given its higher radiosensitivity in contrast to the lungs.
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