Hypofractionated whole breast irradiation after IORT treatment is safe in patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy

Intraoperative radiation therapy in the management of early stage breast cancer

Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) following breast conserving surgery (BCS) is associated with an improvement in local control and a reduction in breast cancer mortality. While traditionally delivered with whole breast irradiation (WBI), novel approaches have looked to reduce the duration, target volume, and toxicity of adjuvant RT. One such approach is intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), which delivers radiation at the time of surgery with 80-90% of patients not requiring additional WBI. The current review presents IORT techniques and outcomes from modern series evaluating IORT as monotherapy or as a tumor bed boost. Based on two randomized trials (TARGIT-A and ELIOT) with recent updates, concern regarding higher rates of local recurrence with IORT exist, whether using electrons or low-energy techniques. In contrast, data is promising regarding IORT used as a boost, with ongoing studies evaluating its role prospectively. With respect to toxicity, the data suggest IORT is associated with comparable to slightly lower rates of toxicity though there may be a higher risk of seroma requiring aspiration and fat necrosis with IORT. Given current data and guidelines, WBI or other partial breast techniques should remain the standard of care in early stage breast cancer patients, while IORT should not be utilized outside of prospective clinical trials at this time.

Long-Term Outcomes of an International Cooperative Study of Intraoperative Radiotherapy Upfront Boost With Low Energy X-Rays in Breast Cancer

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectivity of upfront kilovoltage intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) as a boost in high-risk early-stage breast cancer patients from an international pooled cohort.

Materials/Methods

Patients from four centers in three different countries were retrospectively screened. Those with a minimum 1-year follow-up were included. Cumulative local (LR), regional (RR), and distant metastasis rates (DM) were analyzed. Additionally, the estimated overall survival (OS) was assessed. The Cox regression analysis was performed to identify failure predicting factors.

Results

A total of 653 patients from centers in Peru, Spain, and Germany were included. The median follow-up was 55 (12–180) months, and age was 58 (27–86) years. Clinical tumor (T) staging was T1 65.85%, T2 30.17%, and T3 3.98%. Positive margins were found in 7.9% and in-situ component in 20.06%. The median IORT dose was 20 (6–20). The median time from IORT to EBRT was 74.5 (13-364) days. An overall 3.4% (n = 22) of patients developed local recurrence at some point during follow-up. The 12-, 60-, and 120-month cumulative LR were 0.3%, 2.3%, and 7.9%, respectively. After multivariate analysis, only age <50 remained to be a significant prognostic factor for local recurrence (HR 0.19, 95% CI 0.08–0.47; p < 0.05). The 10-year estimated OS was 81.2%.

Conclusion

Upfront boost with IORT yields similar local control outcomes to those EBRT-based reports. Results from prospective trials, regarding toxicity, cosmesis, and effectivity are awaited to confirm these findings.

Two Different Transplant Preconditioning Regimens Combined with Irradiation and Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Childhood Leukemia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective

To observe the therapeutic effect and the incidence of adverse reactions of total body irradiation plus cyclophosphamide (TBI/CY) and busulfan plus cyclophosphamide (BU/CY) in the treatment of pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Methods

By searching the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and screening randomized controlled trials (RCTs), quality evaluation and data extraction were performed for the included literature, and meta-analysis was performed for RCTs included at using Review Manager 5.2 software.

Results

A total of 10160 patients were enrolled in 15 RCTs, including 5211 patients in the TBI/CY group and 4949 patients in the BU/CY group. Meta-analysis showed that there was a statistical difference in transplant failure rate (OR = 1.56, 95% CI (1.23, 1.97), P = 0.0002, I 2 = 56%, Z = 3.69), transplant mortality (OR = 1.45, 95% CI (1.24, 1.68), P < 0.00001, I 2 = 76%, Z = 4.80), transplantation long-term disease-free survival rate (OR = 1.52, 95% CI (1.09, 2.12), P = 0.01, I 2 = 0%, Z = 2.50), and transplantation adverse reactions (OR = 1.28, 95% CI (1.08, 1.52), P = 0.004, I 2 = 0%, Z = 2.85).

Conclusion

Meta-analysis showed that TBI/CY combined pretreatment regimen was more effective than BU/CY regimen alone in the treatment of pediatric hematologic transplantation, with a lower incidence of adverse reactions and significant long-term survival efficacy.