External irradiation and intraluminal irradiation using middle-dose-rate iridium in patients with roentgenographically occult lung cancer

Brachytherapy in the treatment of lung cancer - a valuable solution

The majority of patients with lung cancer are diagnosed with clinically advanced disease. Many of these patients have a short life expectancy and are treated with palliative aim. Because of uncontrolled local or recurrent disease, patients may have significant symptoms such as: cough, dyspnea, hemoptysis, obstructive pneumonia, or atelectasis. Brachytherapy is one of the most efficient methods in overcoming difficulties in breathing that is caused by endobronchial obstruction in palliative treatment of bronchus cancer. Efforts to relieve this obstructive process are worthwhile, because patients may experience improved quality of their life (QoL). Brachytherapy plays a limited but specific role in definitive treatment with curative intent in selected cases of early endobronchial disease as well as in the postoperative treatment of small residual peribronchial disease. Depending on the location of the lesion, in some cases brachytherapy is a treatment of choice. This option is fast, inexpensive, and easy to perform on an outpatient basis. Clinical indications, different techniques, results, and complications are presented in this work.

Definitive high-dose-rate endobronchial brachytherapy of bronchial stump for lung cancer after surgery

PURPOSE

The aim of this work was to evaluate outcomes after definitive high-dose-rate endobronchial brachytherapy (HDR-BT) for lung cancer.

METHODS AND MATERIAL

We treated 34 patients after surgery for lung cancer, without nodal or distant metastases, with HDR-BT. Two groups were analyzed, one with local recurrence in stump after prior surgery (n = 13) and a second with nonradical primary lobar resection found in histopathologically positive margins (n = 21). There were 27 men and 7 women with a median age of 57.4 years. Twenty-five patients received sole brachytherapy with 4 fractions of 7.5 Gy and 9 received combined treatment consisting of 2 fractions of 6 Gy (HDR-BT) and 50 Gy from external beam radiotherapy. Overall survival time (OS) and overall disease-free survival time (OFS) were compared with prognostic factors.

RESULTS

The complete local and radiologic response rate evaluated at the first month after HDR-BT was 73.5% (25/34). The partial response rate was 26.5%. OFS time in total group was 17.4 months; OS was 18.8 months. Differences were found in OS between both groups-primary tumor or recurrence (log-rank test, p = 0.048). Differences were not found according to gender (p = 0.36), clinical stage (p = 0.76), histopathology (p = 0.93), treatment dose (p = 0.45), sole or combined treatment (p = 0.16), or grade of remission in week 4 (p = 0.15).

CONCLUSIONS

HDR-BT of a stump recurrence or after nonradical resection leads to a long-term OS rate in patients with localized lung cancer and could be considered curative. We found no correlations between OS and chosen clinical data; adjuvant HDR-BT gave better results.

Long-term results of curative intraluminal high dose rate brachytherapy for endobronchial carcinoma

BACKGROUND

The treatment strategy of central lung tumors is not established. Intraluminal brachytherapy (ILBT) is widely used for palliative treatment of endobronchial tumors, however, it is also a promising option for curative treatment with limited data. This study evaluates the results after ILBT for endobronchial carcinoma.

METHOD

Sixteen-endobronchial carcinoma of 13 patients treated with ILBT in curative intent for 2000 to 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. ILBT using high dose rate 192 iridium thin wire system was performed with 5 Gy/fraction at mucosal surface. The patient age ranged from 57 to 82 years old with median 75 years old. The 16 lesions consisted of 13 central endobronchial cancers including 7 roentgenographically occult lung cancers and 3 of tracheal cancers. Of them, 10 lesions were treated with ILBT of median 20 Gy combined with external beam radiation therapy of median 45 Gy and 6 lesions were treated with ILBT alone of median 25 Gy.

RESULTS

Median follow-up time was 32.5 months. Two-year survival rate and local control rate were 92.3% and 86.2%, respectively. Local recurrences were observed in 2 lesions. Three patients died due to lung cancer (1 patient) and intercurrent disease (2 patients). Complications greater than grade 2 were not observed except for one grade 3 dyspnea.

CONCLUSIONS

ILBT combined with or without EBRT might be a curative treatment option in inoperable endobronchial carcinoma patients with tolerable complication.

Chemoradiotherapy for locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma: treatment outcome and prognostic factors

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the treatment outcome of patients with locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with re-irradiation and chemotherapy.

METHODS

Between 1991 and 2004, 36 patients with locally recurrent NPC received re-irradiation and chemotherapy. The median re-irradiation dose was 37.9 Gy; the median total dose of prior irradiation and re-irradiation was 104.4 Gy. The outcome is studied retrospectively and also evaluated the prognostic factors and toxicities.

RESULTS

With a median follow-up of 40 months, 3-year overall survival (OS) was 58.3% and 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) was 25.0%. Patients aged <50 and of early stage at recurrence had a significantly better OS and PFS. Over Grade 3 of late toxicities were seen in patients received a total dose of >110 Gy.

CONCLUSIONS

Age and stage at recurrence were identified as prognostic factors for OS and PFS. Patients received external beam radiation therapy at a total dose of more than 110 Gy should be careful for severe late toxicities, and it is thought to be the optimal dose for recurrent tumor.

Long-term observation of 64 patients with roentgenographically occult lung cancer treated with external irradiation and intraluminal irradiation using low-dose-rate iridium

OBJECTIVE

Therapeutic results of intraluminal irradiation were analyzed in 64 patients with roentgenographically occult lung cancer (ROLC).

METHODS

The subjects were 64 patients who underwent intraluminal irradiation between 1987 and 2003. Radiotherapy was performed by combining external irradiation with intraluminal irradiation using low-dose-rate iridium (four 370-MBq wires) through a catheter with a spacer. The doses of radiation were 0-70 Gy (median value 46 Gy) by external irradiation and 10-60 Gy (median value 29.3 Gy) by intraluminal irradiation.

RESULTS

The therapeutic effect was CR in 63 patients and PR in 1 patient, and local recurrence was observed in a PR case and in seven of the 63 patients who showed CR. The 5-year overall and relapse-free survival rates were 56 (95% CI, 43-69%) and 55% (95% CI, 43-68%), respectively. Fatal pulmonary hemorrhage was observed in one case.

CONCLUSIONS

Considering the facts that ROLC often occurs as multiple cancers and that many patients with ROLC have reduced lung function, radiation therapy by a combination of intraluminal and external irradiation may replace surgery as the first choice for the treatment of this disease.

Long-term results of endobronchial brachytherapy: A curative treatment?

PURPOSE

To evaluate outcomes after high-dose-rate endobronchial brachytherapy (HDR-EBBT) for limited lung carcinoma.

METHODS

A total of 106 patients with endobronchial lung cancer and not eligible for surgery or external beam radiotherapy, without nodal or visceral metastases, were treated with HDR-EBBT. They had developed disease relapse after surgery (n = 43) or external beam radiotherapy (n = 27) or had early lung cancer with respiratory insufficiency (n = 36). Treatment consisted of six fractions of 5 or 7 Gy, usually delivered 1 cm from the source.

RESULTS

The complete histologic response rate, evaluated at 3 months after HDR-EBBT, was 59.4%. At 3 and 5 years, the local control, overall survival, and cause-specific survival rates were 60.3% and 51.6%, 47.4 and 24%, and 67.9 and 48.5%, respectively. Factors significantly associated with local failure were high tumor volume (tumor length >2 cm, bronchial obstruction >25%, tumor visibility on CT scan) and previous endoscopic treatment. Cause-specific survival, but not overall survival, was significantly associated with local control, probably because of the high rate of deaths not related to lung cancer. Five deaths were attributed to the HDR-EBBT procedure (two from fatal hemoptysis and three from bronchial necrosis).

CONCLUSION

High-dose-rate-EBBT achieved a long-term cause-specific survival rate of 50% of the patients with localized endobronchial carcinoma and could be considered curative.

Endobronchial brachytherapy and optimization of local disease control in medically inoperable non-small cell lung carcinoma: a matched-pair analysis

PURPOSE

External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) alone for early stage, medically inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (MILC) can produce local disease control and sometimes cure. We have previously reported that higher EBRT doses result in improved disease control and, for patients with tumors > or =3.0 cm, improved survival. This report describes the impact of dose escalation with endobronchial brachytherapy boost during or following EBRT upon local disease control.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Medical records of 404 patients with MILC treated with radiotherapy alone were reviewed. Thirty-nine patients received a planned endobronchial brachytherapy boost during or following a course of EBRT. A matched-pair analysis of disease control and survival was performed by matching each brachytherapy patient to 2 EBRT patients from a reference group of the remaining patients.

RESULTS

Endobronchial brachytherapy boost significantly improved local disease control over EBRT alone (58% vs. 32% at 5 years). The local control benefit for brachytherapy was found to be limited to patients with T(1-2) disease or tumors < or =5.0 cm. Among these patients treated with endobronchial boost, EBRT doses of > or =6500 cGy were necessary to optimize local disease control. No overall survival differences were observed at 3 years. Excess toxicity with brachytherapy was not observed.

CONCLUSION

Endobronchial brachytherapy boost enhances local disease control rates in MILC treated with EBRT. Local control outcome is optimized when radical EBRT doses are used in conjunction with brachytherapy.

[Endobronchial brachytherapy: technique and indications]

The endobronchial brachytherapy procedure involves the insertion of an afterloading catheter into bronchus in close proximity to an endoluminal lesion, and to perform limited irradiation sparing as much as possible normal health tissues. The catheter is inserted during a classical flexible bronchoscopy. Three types of indications have been discussed: (i) palliative treatment of lung carcinoma, with or without laser desobstruction: an improvement in respiratory symptoms was observed in 60 to 80% of the cases; (ii) curative treatment for localised endobronchial carcinomas, in previously irradiated patients, or in case of contraindication of surgery or external beam irradiation; local control rate range from 60 to 70% at 2 years; (iii) combination of external irradiation and brachytherapy in the first line treatment of lung cancers. Two randomised trials did not show any improvement in survival for this approach; however, they have included advanced diseases. In the opposite, this association seems very effective for early stage lung carcinomas. Two major complications were regularly reported, haemoptysis and radiation bronchitis. Predictive factors for these toxicities are actually better known: haemoptysis could be due to a progressive disease more often than to brachytherapy itself; technical factors (dose, volume, fractionation), however, could explain a number of radiation bronchitis, and their incidence could decrease in the future.