Reduced radiation-induced toxicity by using proton therapy for the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer.

Reduced radiation-induced toxicity by using proton therapy for the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer. Br J Radiol. 2020 Jan 23;:20190955 Authors: Meijer TWH, Scandurra D, Langendijk JA Abstract Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx are generally treated with (chemo) radiation. Patients with oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) have better survival than patients with squamous cell carcinoma of other head and neck subsites, especially when related to human papillomavirus (HPV). However, radiotherapy results in a substantial percentage of survivors suffering from significant treatment-related side-effects. Late radiation-induced side-effects are mostly irreversible and may even be progressive, and particularly xerostomia and dysphagia affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL). As the risk of radiation-induced side-effects highly depends on dose to healthy normal tissues, prevention of radiation-induced xerostomia and dysphagia and subsequent improvement of HRQoL can be obtained by applying proton therapy, which offers the opportunity to reduce the dose to both the salivary glands and anatomic structures involved in swallowing.This review describes the results of the first cohort studies demonstrating that proton therapy results in lower dose levels in multiple organs at risk, which translates into reduced acute toxicity (i.e., up to 3 months after radiotherapy), while preserving tumour control. Next to reducing mucositis, tu...
Source: The British Journal of Radiology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Br J Radiol Source Type: research