

Patient and treatment characteristics (n = 54)
| Characteristic | No. of patients | % |
|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | ||
| Male gender | 33 | 61 |
| Age (years) | ||
| Median | 69 | |
| Range | 39-86 | |
| Primary tumor | ||
| Lung | 14 | 26 |
| Gastrointestinal | 9 | 17 |
| Skin | 4 | 7 |
| Liver | 3 | 6 |
| Uterus | 3 | 6 |
| Others Others include head and neck (3 patients), breast (3 patients), mediastinal (3 patients), urogenita (8 patients), and soft tissue (4 patients) tumors; | 21 | 39 |
| Previous radiotherapy | 15 | 28 |
| Previous chemotherapy | 26 | 48 |
| Concurrent steroid use | 23 | 43 |
| Bone metastasis | 27 | 50 |
| Brain metastasis | 11 | 20 |
| Interval from tumor diagnosis to radiotherapy (months) | ||
| Median | 13 | |
| Range | 0-168 | |
| Pre-radiotherapy absolute lymphocyte count (× 106/L) | ||
| Median | 1356 | |
| Range | 844-3468 | |
| Treatment characteristics | ||
| Total radiation dose (Gy) | ||
| Median | 30 | |
| Range | 16-50 | |
| Number of fractions | ||
| Median | 10 | |
| Range | 4-25 | |
| Fraction size (Gy) | ||
| Median | 3 | |
| Range | 2-5 | |
| Total monitor units for all fractions | ||
| Median | 4433 | |
| Range | 1896–13890 | |
| Total irradiation time for all fractions (minutes) | ||
| Median | 7.5 | |
| Range | 3.2-37.7 | |
| Treatment site | ||
| Head and neck | 14 | 26 |
| Chest | 24 | 44 |
| Abdomen | 10 | 19 |
| Pelvis | 11 | 20 |
| Limb | 1 | 2 |
| Splenic irradiation Yes, if any part of the spleen was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line; | 9 | 17 |
| Thymic irradiation Yes, if any part of the thymus was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line. | 15 | 28 |
Univariate logistic regression analysis for lymphopenia of grade 3 or higher
| Variable | OR | 95% CI | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | |||
| Male vs. female | 1.39 | 0.46–4.22 | 0.55 |
| Age (per 1 year increase) | 0.99 | 0.94–1.03 | 0.53 |
| Previous radiotherapy (yes vs. no) | 1.02 | 0.30–3.47 | 0.98 |
| Previous chemotherapy (yes vs. no) | 0.53 | 0.18–1.58 | 0.26 |
| Concurrent steroid use (yes vs. no) | 1.07 | 0.36–3.17 | 0.91 |
| Bone metastasis (yes vs. no) | 0.86 | 0.29–2.53 | 0.78 |
| Brain metastasis (yes vs. no) | 0.72 | 0.18–2.84 | 0.64 |
| Interval from tumor diagnosis to radiotherapy (per 1 month increase) | 1.00 | 0.99–1.02 | 0.81 |
| Pre-radiotherapy absolute lymphocyte count (per increase of 1 × 106/l) | 0.99 | 0.99–1.00 | 0.23 |
| Treatment characteristics | |||
| Total radiation dose (per 1-Gy increase) | 1.06 | 0.99–1.14 | 0.11 |
| Number of fractions (per 1-fraction increase) | 1.18 | 1.01–1.38 | 0.036 |
| Total monitor units over the entire treatment | |||
| course (per increase of 100 monitor units) | 1.01 | 0.99–1.03 | 0.29 |
| Total irradiation time over the entire treatment course (per 1-minute increase) | 0.99 | 0.92–1.08 | 0.91 |
| Splenic irradiation (yes vs. no) Yes, if any part of the spleen was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line | 6.34 | 1.18–34.24 | 0.032 |
| Thymic irradiation (yes vs. no) Yes, if any part of the thymus was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line. | 0.58 | 0.17–2.03 | 0.39 |
| Body A V5 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.55 | 1.06–2.26 | 0.025 |
| Body A V10 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.60 | 1.04–2.45 | 0.032 |
| Body A V20 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.60 | 0.96–2.68 | 0.074 |
| Body A V30 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.87 | 0.95–3.68 | 0.069 |
| Body B V5 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.58 | 1.05–2.38 | 0.027 |
| Body B V10 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.63 | 1.04–2.56 | 0.035 |
| Body B V20 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.59 | 0.94–2.72 | 0.087 |
| Body B V30 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.84 | 0.93–3.67 | 0.082 |
| BM V5 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 3.62 | 0.37–35.36 | 0.27 |
| BM V10 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 2.88 | 0.27–31.10 | 0.38 |
| BM V20 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.78 | 0.15–20.92 | 0.65 |
| BM V30 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 4.73 | 0.19–115.78 | 0.34 |
Multivariate logistic regression analysis for lymphopenia of grade 3 or higher
| Variable | OR | 95% CI | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body A V5 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.58 | 1.03–2.42 | 0.036 |
| Number of fractions (per 1-fraction increase) | 1.26 | 1.03–1.53 | 0.027 |
| Splenic irradiation (yes vs. no) Yes, if any part of the spleen was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line; Factors with p < 0.05 by univariate analysis (number of fractions and splenic irradiation) were taken into account to test the indep | 5.12 | 0.74–35.28 | 0.098 |
| Body A V10 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.68 | 1.04–2.70 | 0.034 |
| Number of fractions (per 1-fraction increase) | 1.26 | 1.03–1.55 | 0.026 |
| Splenic irradiation (yes vs. no) Yes, if any part of the spleen was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line; Factors with p < 0.05 by univariate analysis (number of fractions and splenic irradiation) were taken into account to test the indep | 5.25 | 0.77–35.76 | 0.090 |
| Body B V5 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.63 | 1.03–2.57 | 0.038 |
| Number of fractions (per 1-fraction increase) | 1.25 | 1.03–1.53 | 0.028 |
| Splenic irradiation (yes vs. no) Yes, if any part of the spleen was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line; Factors with p < 0.05 by univariate analysis (number of fractions and splenic irradiation) were taken into account to test the indep | 5.46 | 0.79–37.53 | 0.085 |
| Body B V10 (per 1 × 103 mL increase) | 1.72 | 1.04–2.87 | 0.036 |
| Number of fractions (per 1-fraction increase) | 1.26 | 1.03–1.55 | 0.027 |
| Splenic irradiation (yes vs. no) Yes, if any part of the spleen was covered by the 5 Gy idodose line; Factors with p < 0.05 by univariate analysis (number of fractions and splenic irradiation) were taken into account to test the indep | 5.59 | 0.82–37.99 | 0.078 |
Spearman correlation coefficients between the dose-volume parameters and the nadir lymphocyte count
| Nadir lymphocyte count | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolute lymphocyte count at nadir | Lymphocyte count ratio The lymphocyte count ratio was calculated by dividing the nadir absolute lymphocyte count by the pre-radiotherapy absolute lymphocyte count. | |||
| Variable | Spearman’s rho | p-value | Spearman’s rho | p-value |
| Body A V5 | -0.265 | 0.053 | -0.350 | 0.010 |
| Body A V10 | -0.283 | 0.038 | -0.367 | 0.006 |
| Body A V20 | -0.231 | 0.093 | -0.255 | 0.063 |
| Body A V30 | -0.305 | 0.025 | -0.281 | 0.039 |
| Body B V5 | -0.274 | 0.045 | -0.347 | 0.010 |
| Body B V10 | -0.280 | 0.040 | -0.352 | 0.009 |
| Body B V20 | -0.236 | 0.086 | -0.260 | 0.057 |
| Body B V30 | -0.302 | 0.027 | -0.280 | 0.041 |
| BM V5 | -0.152 | 0.27 | -0.210 | 0.13 |
| BM V10 | -0.161 | 0.25 | -0.207 | 0.13 |
| BM V20 | -0.135 | 0.33 | -0.161 | 0.25 |
| BM V30 | -0.168 | 0.23 | -0.185 | 0.18 |