Treatment-related Pneumonitis and Acute Esophagitis in Non–small-cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Chemotherapy and Helical Tomotherapy
Received 9 June 2009; received in revised form 26 August 2009; accepted 27 August 2009. published online 08 March 2010. Corrected Proof
Purpose
To assess clinical outcomes and complications in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with helical tomotherapy (HT) with or without chemotherapy.
Methods and Materials
Data from 37 NSCLC patients treated between January 2007 and August 2008 were analyzed retrospectively. Twenty-eight patients had Stage III disease. Concurrent and neoadjuvant chemotherapy was given to 24 and 14 patients, respectively. Radiotherapy was delivered to a total dose of 60–70.4 Gy at 2.0–2.4 Gy per fraction to the gross tumor volume and 50–64 Gy at 1.8–2.0 Gy per fraction to the planning target volume.
Results
With a median follow-up of 18 months (range, 6–27 months), 2-year local control and overall survival rates were 63% and 56% for all 37 patients, respectively, and were 78% and 75% for the patients with Stage III disease who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone. Acute esophagitis and treatment-related pneumonitis (TRP) ≥Grade 3 occurred in 5 and 7 patients, respectively. Four patients died of treatment-related death (TRD) after HT. In univariate analysis, poor performance status, total lung V5, contralateral lung (CL) V5, and V10 were associated with TRD. Only CL V5 remained significant in the multivariate analysis (p = 0.029).
Conclusions
HT with chemotherapy has shown promising clinical outcomes, esophagitis, and TRPs. However, HT has produced a somewhat high rate of fatal pulmonary complications. Our data suggest that CL V5 should be considered and kept as low as possible (<60%) in addition to the conventional dosimetric factors.
∗Department of Radiation Oncology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
†Proton Therapy Center, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
Reprint requests to: Hongryull Pyo, M.D., Proton Therapy Center, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, 809 Madu 1-dong, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi 410–769, Republic of Korea. Tel: +82-31-920-1723; Fax: +82-31-920-0149
ABSTRACT