Effectiveness of several external beam radiotherapy schedules for palliation of esophageal cancer
•External beam radiotherapy provides good symptom control for esophageal cancer.•A higher dose schedule is related to a longer time to second intervention.•Life expectancy is valuable in selecting the optimal palliative treatment schedule. Although external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is frequently use...
Saved in:
| Published in: | Clinical and translational radiation oncology Vol. 17; pp. 24 - 31 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Ireland
Elsevier B.V
01-07-2019
Elsevier |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | •External beam radiotherapy provides good symptom control for esophageal cancer.•A higher dose schedule is related to a longer time to second intervention.•Life expectancy is valuable in selecting the optimal palliative treatment schedule.
Although external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is frequently used for palliative treatment of patients with incurable esophageal cancer, the optimal schedule for symptom control is unknown. This retrospective study evaluated three EBRT schedules for symptom control and investigated possible prognostic factors associated with second intervention and overall survival (OS).
Patients with esophageal cancer treated with EBRT with palliative intent between January 2009 and December 2015 were evaluated. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models estimated the effect of treatment schedule (20 Gy in 5 fractions, 30 Gy in 10 fractions or 39 Gy in 13 fractions) on OS. To study the effect of prognostic factors on time to second intervention (repeat EBRT, intraluminal brachytherapy or stent placement) a competing risk model with death as competing event was used.
205 patients received 20 Gy (31%), 30 Gy (38%) or 39 Gy (32%). Improvement of symptoms was observed in 72% with no differences between schedules. Median OS after 20 Gy, 30 Gy and 39 Gy was 4.6 months (95%CI 2.6–6.6), 5.2 months (95%CI 3.7–6.7) and 9.7 months (95%CI 6.9–12.5), respectively. Poor performance status (HR 2.25 (95%CI 1.53–3.29)), recurrent esophageal cancer (HR 1.69 (95%CI 1.15–2.47)) and distant metastasis (HR 1.73 (95%CI 1.27–2.35)) were significantly related to worse OS. Treatment with 30 Gy and 39 Gy was related to longer time to second intervention compared to 20 Gy (adjusted cause specific HR 0.50 (95%CI 0.25–0.99) and 0.27 (95%CI 0.13–0.56), respectively).
Palliative EBRT provides good symptom control in patients with symptomatic esophageal cancer. A higher dose schedule was related to a longer time to second intervention. Hence, selection based on life expectancy is vital to prevent unnecessary long treatment schedules in patients with expected short survival, and limit the chance of second intervention when life expectancy is longer. |
|---|---|
| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 2405-6308 2405-6308 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ctro.2019.04.017 |