ArticleThe Yale journal of biology and medicine2013
How radiotherapy was historically used to treat pneumonia: could it be useful today?
Article in The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 6 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 97 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Low Dose Anti-inflammatory Radiotherapy for the Treatment of Pneumonia by COVID-19: Multi-central Prospective Study
Assessment of Adding Low Dose Pulmonary Radiotherapy to the National Protocol of COVID-19 Management: A Pilot Trial
Low Doses of Lung Radiation Therapy in Cases of COVID-19 Pneumonia: Prospective Multicentric Study in Radiation Oncology Centers
Low Dose Radiation Therapy for Covid-19 Pneumonia: A Pilot Study
Vented COVID: A Phase II Study Of The Use Of Ultra Low-Dose Bilateral Whole Lung Radiation Therapy in the Treatment Of Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 Respiratory Compromise
Low Dose Lung Radiotherapy to Treat COVID-19 Pneumonia (a Phase I Feasibility Trial)
Who cites it
97 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 132 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Low Dose Radiation Therapy for COVID-19 Pneumonia: Learnings of 4 Years Since Pandemic.Clinical and translational science · 2025Pooled it
- Low-Dose Whole Lung Irradiation for Treatment of COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · 2022Pooled it
- Effectiveness of low-dose radiation therapy in COVID-19 patients globally: A systematic review.F1000Research · 2022Pooled it
- Treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia with low-dose radiotherapy plus standard of care versus standard of care alone in frail patients : The SEOR-GICOR IPACOVID comparative cohort trial.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2023Trial
- World's First Experience of the Low-Dose Radionuclide Inhalation Therapy in the Treatment of COVID-19-Associated Viral Pneumonia: Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial.Current radiopharmaceuticals · 2023Trial
- Low-dose whole-lung irradiation in severe COVID-19 pneumonia: a controlled clinical trial.Journal of medical radiation sciences · 2021Trial
- Could pulmonary low-dose radiation therapy be an alternative treatment for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia? Preliminary results of a multicenter SEOR-GICOR nonrandomized prospective trial (IPACOVID trial).Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2021Trial
- Whole lung irradiation as a novel treatment for COVID-19: Interim results of an ongoing phase 2 trial in India.Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology · 2021Trial
- Low-Dose Radiation Therapy for Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Randomized Double-Blind Study.International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · 2021Trial
- COVID-19 pneumonia treated with ultra-low doses of radiotherapy (ULTRA-COVID study): a single institution report of two cases.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2021Trial
- Low-Dose Radiation Therapy in the Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pneumonia (LOWRAD-Cov19): Preliminary Report.International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · 2021Trial
- Breakthrough Infection and Death after COVID-19 Vaccination: A Physics Perspective.Journal of biomedical physics & engineering · 2025Article
- From essential basic understanding to clinical application - biological, physical and pathophysiological principles of (low-dose) radiotherapy in benign diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Review
- Multi-phase failure modes and effects analysis for low dose bilateral whole lung irradiation of COVID-19 positive patients requiring respiratory ventilation.Journal of applied clinical medical physics · 2024Article
- Radiotherapy for non-cancer diseases: benefits and long-term risks.International journal of radiation biology · 2024Review
- Low-Dose Radiotherapy for Patients with Pneumonia Due to COVID-19: A Single-Institution Prospective Study.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Review
- The immunomodulatory properties of low-level ionizing radiation as a potential treatment for COVID-19's life-threatening symptoms.European journal of medical research · 2023Review
- Low-dose radiation therapy suppresses viral pneumonia by enhancing broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory responses via transforming growth factor-β production.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
X-ray therapy was used to treat pneumonia during the first half of the 20th century. Fifteen studies report that approximately 700 cases of bacterial (lobar and bronchopneumonia), sulfanilamide non-responsive, interstitial, and atypical pneumonia were effectively treated by low doses of X-rays, leading to disease resolution, based on clinical symptoms, objective disease biomarkers, and mortality incidence. The capacity of the X-ray treatment to reduce mortality was similar to serum therapy and sulfonamide treatment during the same time period. Studies with four experimental animal models (i.e., mice, guinea pig, cat, and dog) with bacterial and viral pneumonia supported the clinical findings. The mechanism by which the X-ray treatment acts upon pneumonia involves the induction of an anti-inflammatory phenotype that leads to a rapid reversal of clinical symptoms, facilitating disease resolution. The capacity of low doses of X-rays to suppress inflammatory responses is a significant new concept with widespread biomedical and therapeutic applications.
Indexed as
Identifiers
24348219PMC3848110W49375470What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.