In Vivo Assessment of the Safety of Standard Fractionation Temporally Feathered Radiation Therapy (TFRT) for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An R-IDEAL Stage 1/2a First-in-Humans/Feasibility Demonstration of New Technology Implementation

Radiation plays an important role in the definitive treatment of various head and neck cancers.(1-3) Conventional techniques of radiotherapy result in high rates of late effects, such as dysphagia, radionecrosis, and xerostomia. The physical dose distributions over the target volume and nearby surrounding structures has improved with the advancement of radiation therapy techniques and specifically the adoption of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) coupled with image guidance.(4) This has led to decreased toxicity rates, especially xerostomia.(5) In a recent study of patients receiving modern techniques of IMRT with or without chemotherapy for HPV-related oropharynx cancer, 42% of patients experienced grade 3 or higher acute toxicity with the most common being dysphagia (24%), mucositis (17%), and dermatitis (8%).(6) Of the patients followed greater than one year without local failure, 24% experienced grade 2 xerostomia.

Source: Radiotherapy and Oncology - July 28, 2021 Category: Radiology Authors: Shireen Parsai, Richard Lei J. Qiu, Peng Qi, Geoffrey Sedor, Clifton D. Fuller, Eric Murray, David Majkszak, Nicole Dorio, Shlomo Koyfman, Neil Woody, Nikhil Joshi, Jacob G. Scott Tags: Original Article Source Type: research