Interruptions to primary radiotherapy not significant

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Jim Marshall (not a doctor) said ... 

If your first treatment for prostate cancer is radiotherapy, getting to each session, five days a week for several weeks can be a problem. 

These researchers asked whether this would affect your results. 

Their answer - it does not make a difference in the first four years. Four years because that is the length of time they studied their patients. Longer time results will have to wait more years. 

... end Jim 

  

J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol. 2018 Feb;62(1):116-121. doi: 10.1111/1754-9485.12675. Epub 2017 Oct 13. 

Effects of interruptions of external beam radiation therapy on outcomes in patients with prostate cancer. 

Dong Y1, Zaorsky NG1,2, Li T3, Churilla TM1, Viterbo R4, Sobczak ML1, Smaldone MC4, Chen DY4, Uzzo RG4, Hallman MA1, Horwitz EM1. 

Author information 

Abstract 

INTRODUCTION: 

To evaluate if interruptions of external beam radiation therapy impact outcomes in men with localized prostate cancer (PCa). 

 METHODS: 

We included men with localized PCa treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) or intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) of escalated dose (≥74 Gy in 1.8 or 2 Gy fractions) between 1992 and 2013 at an NCI-designated cancer centre. Men receiving androgen deprivation therapy were excluded. The non-treatment day ratio (NTDR) was defined as the number of non-treatment days divided by the total elapsed days of therapy. NTDR was analysed for each National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) risk group. 

 RESULTS: 

There were 1728 men included (839 low-risk, 776 intermediate-risk and 113 high-risk), with a median follow up of 53.5 months (range 12-185.8). The median NTDR was 31% (range 23-71%), translating to approximately 2 breaks (each break represents a missed treatment that will be made up) for 8 weeks of RT with 5 treatments per week. The 75 percentile of NTDR was 33%, translating to approximately 4 breaks, which was used as the cutoff for analysis. There were no significant differences in freedom from biochemical failure, freedom from distant metastasis, cancer specific survival, or overall survival for men with NTDR ≥33% compared to NTDR<33% for each risk group. Multivariable analyses including NTDR, age, race, Gleason score, T stage, and PSA were performed using the proportional hazards regression procedure. NTDR≥33% was not significantly associated with increased hazard ratio for outcomes in each risk group compared to NTDR<33%. 

 CONCLUSION: 

Unintentional treatment breaks during dose escalated external beam radiation therapy for PCa did not cause a significant difference in outcomes, although duration of follow up limits the strength of this conclusion. 

 © 2017 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists. 

 KEYWORDS: 

outcomes; prostate cancer; quality; radiation therapy; treatment interruption 

 PMID: 29030906  

This extract can be found on http://PubMed.com, and is in the public domain. 

On PubMed.com there will be a link to the full paper (often USD$30+, sometimes free). 

 Any highlighting (except the title) is not by the author, but by Jim Marshall. 

Jim is not a doctor.