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. 2016 Jun;57(3):288-93.
doi: 10.1093/jrr/rrw004. Epub 2016 Mar 16.

Reirradiation using robotic image-guided stereotactic radiotherapy of recurrent head and neck cancer

Hideya Yamazaki  1 , Mikio Ogita  2 , Kengo Himei  3 , Satoaki Nakamura  4 , Gen Suzuki  4 , Ken Yoshida  5 , Tadayuki Kotsuma  5 , Yasuo Yoshioka  6
Affiliations

Reirradiation using robotic image-guided stereotactic radiotherapy of recurrent head and neck cancer

Hideya Yamazaki et al. J Radiat Res. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the prognosis for patients with head and neck cancer after reirradiation using Cyberknife stereotactic body irradiation with special focus on mucosal ulceration. We conducted a retrospective multi-institutional review of 107 patients with previously irradiated head and neck cancer. The median follow-up time for all patients was 15 months, and the 2-year overall survival rate was 35%. Significant prognostic factors for overall survival were primary site (nasopharynx versus other sites), presence of ulceration, and PTV volume. Detailed analysis of ulceration showed a lower response rate (28%) in the ulceration (+) group than the ulceration (-) group (63%; P = 0.0045). The 2-year overall survival rates were 8% in the ulceration (+) group and 42.7% (P = 0.0001) in the ulceration (-) group, respectively. We recorded 22 severe toxicities, including 11 patients with carotid blow-out syndrome (CBOS), which was fatal in 9 patients. CBOS occurred in 6 patients with ulceration (6/25; 24%), and 5 patients experienced CBOS without ulceration (5/82; 6%; P=0.027). In conclusion, ulceration is an important prognostic factor, not only for adverse events but also for survival after reirradiation using CyberKnife.

Keywords: head and neck cancer; reirradiation; stereotactic radiotherapy; ulceration.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Overall survival rate (OS). (a) Overall survival rate according to ulceration. The thick line depicts the outcome for patients with absence of ulceration and the thin line depicts the outcome for patients with presence of ulceration. (b) Overall survival rates are stratified by prognostic index. By using three statistically significant prognostic factors, we made a prognostic index = [summation of those three factors classified as 0 or 1: primary site nasopharynx (1) or not (0), PTV < 40 cm3 (1) or not (0), absence of ulceration (1) or not (0)]. The 2-year survival rates were not available for Index 0 (n = 14; 9% at 7.6 months), 14% (95% CI, 0.01–28%) for Index 1 (n = 32), 43% (95% CI, 24–62%) for Index 2 (n = 38) and 64% (95% CI, 43–84%) for Index 3 (n = 25) (P < 0.0001). This risk classification system was able to separate the risk group well.
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