Radiotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Radiotherapy, including details on cancer treatment, side effects.

Disease-control rates following intensity-modulated radiation therapy for small primary oropharyngeal carcinoma.

Garden AS, Morrison WH, Wong PF, Tung SS, Rosenthal DI, Dong L, Mason B, Perkins GH, Ang KK

Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. agarden@mdanderson.org

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to achieve favorable disease-control rates while minimizing parotid gland doses in patients treated for small primary tumors of the oropharynx. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We retrospectively identified all patients who received IMRT as treatment for a small (<4 cm) primary tumor of the oropharynx between October 2000 and June 2002. Tumor characteristics, IMRT parameters, and patient outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients met the criteria for our study. All patients had treatment to gross disease with margin (CTV1), and all but 1 had treatment to the bilateral necks. The most common treatment schedule (39 patients) was a once-daily fractionation of prescribed doses of 63-66 Gy to the CTV1 and 54 Gy to subclinical sites, delivered in 30 fractions. Twenty-one patients (40%) had gastrostomy tubes placed during therapy; in 4 patients, the tube remained in place for more than 6 months after completion of IMRT. The median follow-up was 45 months. The 2-year actuarial locoregional control, recurrence-free, and overall survival rates were 94%, 88%, and 94%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data suggest that treatment with IMRT results in favorable locoregional control of small primary oropharynx tumors. IMRT did not appear to have a more favorable acute toxicity profile in this group with respect to the use of a feeding tube; however, the mean dose of radiation delivered to the parotid gland by IMRT was decreased, because 95% of patients had a mean dose of <30 Gy to at least one gland.

Published 22 January 2007 in Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 67(2): 438-44.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Radiotherapy Research Today. All Rights Reserved.