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. 2014 Jan 1;55(1):146-53.
doi: 10.1093/jrr/rrt098. Epub 2013 Aug 16.

Boron neutron capture therapy outcomes for advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer

Minoru Suzuki  1 , Ituro Kato, Teruhito Aihara, Junichi Hiratsuka, Kenichi Yoshimura, Miyuki Niimi, Yoshihiro Kimura, Yasunori Ariyoshi, Shin-Ichi Haginomori, Yoshinori Sakurai, Yuko Kinashi, Shin-Ichiro Masunaga, Masanori Fukushima, Koji Ono, Akira Maruhashi
Affiliations

Boron neutron capture therapy outcomes for advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer

Minoru Suzuki et al. J Radiat Res. .

Abstract

We retrospectively review outcomes of applying boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) to unresectable advanced or recurrent head and neck cancers. Patients who were treated with BNCT for either local recurrent or newly diagnosed unresectable head or neck cancers between December 2001 and September 2007 were included. Clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcomes were retrieved from hospital records. Either a combination of borocaptate sodium and boronophenylalanine (BPA) or BPA alone were used as boron compounds. In all the treatment cases, the dose constraint was set to deliver a dose <10-12 Gy-eq to the skin or oral mucosa. There was a patient cohort of 62, with a median follow-up of 18.7 months (range, 0.7-40.8). A total of 87 BNCT procedures were performed. The overall response rate was 58% within 6 months after BNCT. The median survival time was 10.1 months from the time of BNCT. The 1- and 2-year overall survival (OS) rates were 43.1% and 24.2%, respectively. The major acute Grade 3 or 4 toxicities were hyperamylasemia (38.6%), fatigue (6.5%), mucositis/stomatitis (9.7%) and pain (9.7%), all of which were manageable. Three patients died of treatment-related toxicity. Three patients experienced carotid artery hemorrhage, two of whom had coexistent infection of the carotid artery. This study confirmed the feasibility of our dose-estimation method and that controlled trials are warranted.

Keywords: boron neutron capture therapy; head and neck tumors.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
OS for all patients, those with a newly diagnosed tumor, and those with a recurrent tumor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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