Pilot Study of Regional Lung Ventilation

The 4-D CT scan shows how the tumor moves when patients breathe so that motion can be taken into account when planning the radiation. This is the usual way of planning lung radiation and everyone in this study will be planned using a 4-D CT scan.

It may be possible to make a more accurate plan by using a SPECT-CT scan for planning that would result in less damage to healthy lung tissue. This is not yet proven. A SPECT-CT scan uses a special camera to detect radioactivity to produce pictures which can lead to more precise information.