Effect of Cardiac Doses on Survival in NSCLC After Accelerated Radiotherapy
Posted: Monday, May 21, 2018
Minimizing cardiac doses of radical radiotherapy may improve survival in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to research presented by Matthew Hatton, MD, of Weston Park Hospital Cancer Research Center, Sheffield, United Kingdom, and colleagues, at the 2018 European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) in Geneva (Abstract 111O). Radical thoracic radiotherapy is a mainstay in the treatment of NSCLC, and the effect of cardiac doses on survival is becoming increasingly important.
Dr. Hatton and his colleagues conducted a single-center retrospective analysis in patients with early-stage and locally advanced NSCLC who had been radically treated with accelerated radiotherapy between 2010 and 2015. Of 294 evaluable patients, 124 received continuous, hyperfractionated, accelerated radiotherapy and 171 received hypofractionated radiotherapy. The percentage of patients with stages I, II, and III disease was 33%, 16%, and 51%, respectively. Two-year overall survival was 48%, with a median overall survival of 22.5 months.
“On univariate analysis, gender, stage, tumor recurrence, planning target volume, and all cardiac dosimetric parameters were significantly associated with survival,” the investigators revealed. “However, multivariate analysis identified only planning target volume and heart V30, V33, V50, and mean dose as independent predictors of survival, with mean heart dose being the most predictive.” According to the research team, their findings warrant further study.
