C. Zucchetti

Outcome of a phase II prospective study on partial breast irradiation with interstitial multi-catheter high-dose-rate brachytherapy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Partial breast irradiation (PBI) is an alternative to whole-breast irradiation after breast-conserving surgery in selected patients. Until the results of randomized phase III studies are available, phase II studies inform about PBI. We report the 5 year results of a phase II prospective study with PBI using interstitial multi-catheter high-dose-rate brachytherapy (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00499057). METHODS Hundred patients received PBI (4 Gy, twice a day for 4 days, until 32 Gy). Inclusion criteria were: age ≥ 40years, infiltrating carcinoma without lobular histology, ductal in situ carcinoma, tumor size ≤ 2.5 cm, negative surgical margins and axillary lymph nodes. RESULTS At a median follow-up of 60 months late toxicity occurred in 25 patients; the 5-year probability of freedom from late toxicity was 72.6% (95% CI: 63.7-81.7). Tamoxifen was the only significant risk factor for late toxicity. Cosmetic results, judged by physicians and patients, were good/excellent in 98 patients. Three local relapses (1 true, 2 elsewhere) and 1 regional relapse occurred. The 5-year probability of local or regional relapse-free survival was 97.7% (95% CI: 91.1-99.4) and 99.0% (95% CI: 92.9-99.8), respectively. CONCLUSION PBI with interstitial multi-catheter brachytherapy is associated with low relapse and late toxicity rates.

Partial breast irradiation with interstitial multi-catheter high-dose-rate brachytherapy. Long-term results of a phase II prospective study

PURPOSE We report the long-term results of phase II prospective study with accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using interstitial multi-catheter high-dose-rate brachytherapy. METHODS 240 patients received APBI (4Gy, twice daily; total dose 32Gy). RESULTS Median follow-up was 96months. Recurrences in the treated breast developed in 8 patients (3.3%) at a median of 73months after APBI. The 5- and 10-year cumulative incidences were respectively, 1.8% (95%CI: 0.6-4.3) and 6.6% (95%CI: 2.7-12.9). Regional recurrences developed in 5 patients (2%) at a median of 28months and distant metastases in 8 (3.3%) at a median of 32.5months. Breast cancer specific mortality occurred in 6 patients (2.5%) at a median of 60months. Acute toxicity developed in 71 (29.6%) patients (G1 in 60 and G2 in 11). Almost all were skin toxicity and hematomas. Late toxicity was observed in 90 patients (37.5%), G1 in 97 cases and G2 in 11. Some patients presented with more than one type of toxicity. Teleangectasia and fibrosis were the most common (48 and 44 cases respectively), followed by fat necrosis (in 18 patients) Tamoxifen emerged as the only risk factor for breast fibrosis (p=0.007). Cosmetic results were judged by the physicians as excellent in 174 (83.7%) patients, good in 25 (12%) fair in 8 (3.8%) and poor in 1 (0.5%); 174 patients (83.7%) judged outcomes as excellent, 26 (12.4%) as good, 7 (3.4%) as fair and 1 (0.5%) as poor. Physician/patient agreement was good (weighted k-value 0.72). CONCLUSIONS APBI with interstitial multi-catheter brachytherapy was associated with good outcomes, low relapse and toxicity rates. Few events during this long-term follow-up preclude identifying specific features of patients at risk of relapse and illustrate the need for a large data-base.

Recurrences and toxicity after adjuvant vaginal brachytherapy in Stage I–II endometrial cancer: A monoinstitutional experience

PURPOSE To evaluate the incidences of vaginal recurrence and toxicity after vaginal brachytherapy in Stage I-II endometrial cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS Between 2003 and 2012, 150 high-intermediate-risk Stage I and 7 Stage II patients, median age 64 years, underwent surgery, with or without lymphadenectomy, and 3D brachytherapy: 7 Gy, at 5 mm depth from applicator surface, for 3-week fractions. The effects of age, grading, number of excised lymph nodes and pathologic stage on loco-regional relapse (LRR), metastases, and tumor-related death were investigated. Vaginal toxicity was evaluated during followup visits. RESULTS At 83 months of median followup, 144 patients were disease free, 2 in relapse, 7 deceased from disease, and 4 from other causes. One vaginal (0.6%), five nodal (3.2%), three pelvic over the vaginal cuff (1.9%), and one distant recurrences were seen (0.6%). The 5-year probability of LRR-free, distant metastasis-free and cause-specific survivals for all patients were 93.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 88.1-96.7), 97.8% (95% CI: 93.2-99.3), and 96.5% (95% CI: 93.5-99.5) and for Stage I 95.7% (95% CI: 92.2-9.1), 99.3% (95% CI: 98.0-100), and 97.7% (95% CI: 95.2-100), respectively. At multivariate analysis, Stage II disease and more than 12 lymph nodes sampled were associated with LRR (hazard ratio [HR]: 3.88; 95% CI: 1.390-10.878; p = 0.010 and HR: 6.952; 95% CI: 1.591-30.385; p = 0.010) and Stage II with metastasis and tumor-related death (HR: 23.057; 95% CI: 2.296-231.485; p = 0.008 and HR: 4.324; 95% CI: 1.223-15.290; p = 0.023). Vaginal acute and chronic toxicity was 16% and 55.4%, respectively, all only Grades 1-2. CONCLUSIONS For high-to-intermediate-risk Stage I endometrial cancer, 3D vaginal brachytherapy achieved good local control and low toxicity. In Stage II, patients brachytherapy could be administered after complete surgical staging.

Radiotherapy for early-stage prostate cancer in men under 70 years of age

Aims To demonstrate that radiotherapy (RT) is a valid alternative to surgery in men ≤70 years old with localized prostate cancer. Methods From 1988 to 2009, 214 patients with T1-2 N0 M0 prostate cancer were treated with RT. The effects of patient- and treatment-related risk factors on toxicity were investigated. Results Median follow-up was 105 months (range 14.2-180). The 5-, 10-, and 15-year biochemical relapse-free survival for all 214 patients was 80%, 61.9%, and 57.5%, respectively. In bivariate analysis, age (≤65 vs 65-70 years) was not a significant factor for biochemical relapse, while radiation dose was (p = 0.05) in multivariate analysis. Cancer-specific survival rates at 5, 10, and 15 years were 98.4%, 93.2%, and 69.7%, respectively. Median overall survival (OS) was 167 months (95% confidence interval 147.3-186.7). The OS rates at 5, 10, and 15 years were 91.8%, 75.8%, and 42.5%, respectively. Acute genitourinary (GU) and gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities occurred in 105 (49%) and 98 patients (45.8%), respectively, with only 2 cases of grade III GI toxicity. Late GU and GI toxicities occurred in 17 (7.9%) and 20 (9.3%) patients, respectively, with 1 grade III GI toxicity and 2 grade III GU toxicities. Risk factors for late toxicity were age and RT dose and technique, which were unrelated to acute toxicity. Conclusions Age ≤70 years does not consistently confer a negative prognosis for localized prostate cancer. Radiotherapy appears to be a viable alternative to surgery, offering excellent long-term cancer control.

Helical tomotherapy for duodenal adenocarcinoma in an elderly patient: A case report

To evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for duodenal adenocarcinoma in an 84-year-old female who underwent EBRT (2.2 Gy/d for a total dose of 46.2 Gy) using helical tomotherapy (HT). Toxicity was evaluated on the National Cancer Institute’s common toxicity criteria (CTCAE 3.0). The patient completed the treatment without G3-G4 toxicity. After 22-mo follow-up, she is alive and well, in complete remission with no late side effects. HT seems to be feasible and effective for duodenal adenocarcinoma in old to very old patients.

Comparison of Helical Tomotherapy and Direct Tomotherapy in Bilateral Whole Breast Irradiation in a Case of Bilateral Synchronous Grade 1 and Stage 1 Breast Cancer

Patient: Female, 60 Final Diagnosis: Complete remission Symptoms: None Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Radiotherapy Specialty: Oncology Objective: Rare disease Background: Synchronous bilateral breast cancer is rare. A case is presented where whole breast irradiation (WBI) was planned after breast conserving surgery in a patient with synchronous bilateral breast cancer. A comparison was made between the feasibility of helical tomotherapy and direct tomotherapy. Case Report: A 60-year-old woman was found to have bilateral breast nodules on routine mammographic screening, resulting in bilateral lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy. Histopathology showed a 6 mm diameter invasive ductal carcinoma in the right breast (Grade 1, hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative) and an 8mm diameter tubular carcinoma in the left breast (Grade 1, hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative). Lymph node biopsy and histology, chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasound scan, and bone scintigraphy were negative for metastases (both tumors were Stage 1). Adjuvant therapy with commenced with anastrozole, but no chemotherapy was given. Clinical target volumes (CTVs) were contoured on computed tomography (CT) images. For planning target volumes (PTVs), CTVs were expanded by 1 cm in all directions, except for the medial 5 mm. Since dose constraints to organs at risk (OARs) were beyond established limits, CTVs were expanded by 5 mm. For PTVs, OAR doses and homogeneity indices for helical tomotherapy and direct tomotherapy were compared. Helical tomotherapy provided better target volume coverage and OAR sparing than direct tomotherapy. Conclusions: In a case of bilateral synchronous Stage 1 and Grade 1 breast cancer, helical tomotherapy appeared more suitable than direct tomotherapy.

EP-1693: Constant dose rate VMAT and step-and-shoot IMRT in head and neck cancer: a comparative plan analysis

ESTRO 35 2016 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ lenses, as shown also in the Table. Dose values are smaller (Dmax 16.7%, i.e. around 6 Gy) than those reported in other studies. In our case, the opposed-lateral setup is associated to larger lens doses (56.6%) than those reported using the same technique in another study (26.4%), suggesting that our specific case was a difficult one, presumably age-related.

Does ultrasound provide any added value in breast contouring for radiotherapy after conserving surgery for cancer

BackgroundWhole breast irradiation after conserving surgery for breast cancer requires precise definition of the target volume. The standard approach uses computed tomography (CT) images. However, since fatty breast and non-breast tissues have similar electronic densities, difficulties in differentiating between them hamper breast volume delineation. To overcome this limitation the breast contour is defined by palpation and then radio-opaque wire is put around it before the CT scan. To optimize assessment of breast margins in the cranial, caudal, medial, lateral and posterior directions, the present study evaluated palpation and CT and determined whether ultrasound (US) provided any added value.MethodsTwenty consecutive patients were enrolled after they had provided informed consent to participating in this prospective study which was approved by the Regional Public Health Ethics Committee. Palpation and US defined breast margins and each contour was marked and outlined with a fine plastic wire. Breasts were then contoured on axial CT images using the breast window width (WW) and window level (WL) (401 and 750 Hounsfield Units –HU- respectively), at which setting the plastic wires were invisible. Then, the lung window function (WW 1601 HU; WL −300 HU) was inserted to visualize the plastic wires which were used as guidelines to contour the palpable and US breast volumes. As each wire had a different diameter, both volumes were easily defined on CT slices. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, percentage overlap and reproducibility measures (agreement and reliability).ResultsVolumes: US gave the largest and palpation the smallest. Agreement was best between palpation and CT. Reliability was almost perfect in all correlations. Extensions: Cranial and posterior were highest with US and smallest with palpation. Agreement was best between palpation and CT in all extensions except the cranial. Since strong to almost perfect agreement emerged for all comparisons, reliability was high.ConclusionsUS may be useful in defining the cranial and posterior extensions, mainly when tumours are localized there. This study demonstrates that the now standard radio-opaque wires around the palpable breast may not be needed in breast contouring.

Prostate cancer: contouring target and organs at risk by kilovoltage and megavoltage CT and MRI in patients with and without hip prostheses

OBJECTIVE In radiotherapy treatment, planning target volume and organs at risk are contoured on kilovoltage CT (kVCT) images. Unlike MR images, kVCT does not provide precise information on target volume extension. Since neither kVCT nor MRI may be suitable for contouring in patients with ferrous hip prostheses, this study evaluated whether megavoltage CT (MVCT) reduced interobserver variability. METHODS Two patients without hip prostheses and one patient (Patient 3) with hip prostheses were enrolled. Six radiation oncologists contoured prostate, rectum and bladder on kVCT (Patients 1 and 3), MRI (Patient 2) and MVCT images (Patient 3). MVCT was acquired with fine, normal and coarse modalities. Interobserver variability for each organ was analysed using conformity index (CI) and coefficient of variation (CV). RESULTS In patients without hip prostheses, CIs were higher in prostate contouring with MRI than with kVCT, indicating lower interobserver variability with MRI. Very slight variations were seen in rectum and bladder contouring. In the patient with hip prostheses (Patient 3), contouring on kVCT lowered CI and increased CV in the prostate, bladder and rectum. The differences were more marked in the prostate. Only fine modality MVCT reduced interobserver variability and only for the prostate. CONCLUSION Even though greater noise and less soft-tissue contrast increase contouring variability with MVCT than with kVCT, lack of artefacts on MVCT could provide better image definition by this modality in hip prosthesis patients in whom MRI is precluded. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE We recommend the fine modality MVCT for contouring hip prostheses patients.