Salvage Re-irradiation with Intensity-modulated Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy Combined with Hyperthermia for Local Recurrence of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma After Chemoradiotherapy

Abstract

A sufficient dose of radiation is difficult to administer in re-irradiation for local recurrence of cancer after radiotherapy because of the dose limitation to organs at risk. Re-irradiation cases also include radioresistant tumors that are difficult to control locally, and their prognosis is poor in general. The effect of re-irradiation using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) has recently been reported to significantly reduce the dose to organs at risk, and the efficacy of hyperthermia has been reported for radioresistant tumors. We report a case of local recurrence after concurrent chemoradiotherapy treated with salvage re-irradiation using IMRT and chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia in a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and include a discussion of the literature.

Keywords: IMRT; hyperthermia; nasopharyngeal cancer; radiotherapy; re-irradiation.