Purpose The locally advanced unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) has detrimental oncological outcomes. In this study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced unresectable ICC.
Materials and Methods Between 2001 and 2021, 116 patients were identified through medical record who underwent radiotherapy for locally advanced unresectable ICC. The resectability of ICC is determined by the multidisciplinary team at each institution. Overall survival (OS) were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and prognostic factors were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards model.
Results The median equivalent radiotherapy dose in 2 Gy fractions (EQD2) was 52 Gy (range, 30 to 110 Gy). Forty-seven patients (40.5%) received sequential gemcitabine-cisplatin based chemotherapy (GEM-CIS CTx). Multivariate analysis identified two risk factors, EQD2 of ≥ 60 Gy and application of sequential GEM-CIS CTx for OS. Patients were grouped by these two risk factors: group 1, EQD2 ≥ 60 Gy with sequential GEM-CIS CTx (n=25); group 2, EQD2 < 60 Gy with sequential GEM-CIS CTx or fluoropyrimidine-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy (n=70); and group 3, radiotherapy alone (n=21). Curative resection was more frequently undergone in group 1 than in groups 2 or 3 (28% vs. 8.6% vs. 0%, respectively). Consequently, OS was significantly better in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (p < 0.05).
Conclusion Combined high-dose radiotherapy with sequential GEM-CIS CTx improved oncologic outcomes in patients with locally advanced unresectable ICC. Further prospective studies are required to validate these findings.
Citations
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Immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitor-combination therapy versus chemotherapy alone among Chinese population in cholangiocarcinoma treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis Li Shi, Wei Du, Juan Miao, Xi-Yuan Peng, Wei Li, Attiq Ur-Rehman, Meng-Wei Ge, Lu-Ting Shen, Rui Feng, Kang Zhong, Si-Qi Gao, Hong-Lin Chen European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.2026;[Epub] CrossRef
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Cancer Res Treat. 2024;56(1):272-279. Published online July 31, 2023
Purpose Risk factors predicting distant metastasis (DM) in extrahepatic bile duct cancer (EHBDC) patients treated with curative resection were investigated.
Materials and Methods Medical records of 1,418 EHBDC patients undergoing curative resection between Jan 2000 and Dec 2015 from 14 institutions were reviewed. After resection, 924 patients (67.6%) were surveilled without adjuvant therapy, 297 (21.7%) were treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) and 148 (10.8%) with CCRT followed by chemotherapy. To exclude the treatment effect from innate confounders, patients not treated with adjuvant therapy were evaluated.
Results After a median follow-up of 36.7 months (range, 2.7 to 213.2 months), the 5-year distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) rate was 57.7%. On multivariate analysis, perihilar or diffuse tumor (hazard ratio [HR], 1.391; p=0.004), poorly differentiated histology (HR, 2.014; p < 0.001), presence of perineural invasion (HR, 1.768; p < 0.001), positive nodal metastasis (HR, 2.670; p < 0.001) and preoperative carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 ≥ 37 U/mL (HR, 1.353; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with inferior DMFS. The DMFS rates significantly differed according to the number of these risk factors. For validation, patients who underwent adjuvant therapy were evaluated. In patients with ≥ 3 factors, additional chemotherapy after CCRT resulted in a superior DMFS compared with CCRT alone (5-year rate, 47.6% vs. 27.7%; p=0.001), but the benefit of additional chemotherapy was not observed in patients with 0-2 risk factors.
Conclusion Tumor location, histologic differentiation, perineural invasion, lymph node metastasis, and preoperative CA 19-9 level predicted DM risk in resected EHBDC. These risk factors might help identifying a subset of patients who could benefit from additional chemotherapy after resection.
Purpose
This study is to report clinical outcomes of salvage concurrent chemo-radiation therapy (CCRT) in treating patients with loco-regional recurrence (LRR) following initial complete resection of non-small cell lung cancer.
Materials and Methods
Between February 2004 and December 2016, 127 patients underwent salvage CCRT for LRR. The median radiation therapy (RT) dose was 66 Gy and clinical target volume was to cover recurrent lesion with margin without elective inclusion of regional lymphatics. Majority of patients (94.5%) received weekly platinum-based doublet chemotherapy during RT course.
Results
The median follow-up time from the start of CCRT was 25 months. The median survival duration was 49 months, and overall survival (OS) rates at 2 and 5 years were 72.9% and 43.9%. The 2- and 5-year rates of in-field failure-free survival, distant metastasis free survival, and progression free survival were 82.4% and 73.8%, 50.4% and 39.9%, and 34.6% and 22.3%, respectively. Grade ≥ 3 radiation-related esophagitis and pneumonitis occurred in 14 (11.0%) and six patients (4.7%), respectively. On both univariate and multivariate analysis, higher biologically equivalent dose (BED10) (≥ 79.2 Gy10 vs. < 79.2 Gy10; hazard ratio [HR], 0.431), smaller CTV (≤ 80 cm3 vs. > 80 cm3; HR, 0.403), and longer disease-free interval (> 1 year vs. ≤ 1 year; HR, 0.489) were significantly favorable factors for OS.
Conclusion
The current study has demonstrated that high dose salvage CCRT focused to the involved lesion only was highly effective and safe. In particular, higher BED10, smaller CTV, and longer disease-free interval were favorable factors for improved survival.
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Purpose
This study aimed to report the clinical outcomes following selective neck irradiation (SNI) with lower elective radiation therapy (RT) dose in treating nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) patients.
Materials and Methods
A total of 347 NPC patients received definitive RT according to our SNI policy and were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical target volumes (CTVs) were subdivided into CTV at high risk (CTV-HR) and CTV at low risk (CTV-LR). The typical doses to gross tumor volume (GTV), CTV-HR, and CTV-LR were 68.4-70.0 Gy, 54.0-60.0 Gy, and 36.0 Gy.
Results
With the median follow-up of 68.1 months (range, 2.3 to 197.1 months), the 5-year rates of loco-regional control and progression-free survival in all the patients were 85.0% and 70.8%, respectively. Thirty patients developed regional failure and the regional control rates at 3 and 5 years were 92.6% and 91.4%, respectively. The sites of regional failure in relation to the target volume were exclusively inside GTV/CTV-HR in 20, inside and outside GTV/CTVHR in three, and exclusively outside GTV/CTV-HR in seven, which were 5.7%, 0.9%, and 2.0% of total patients, respectively.
Conclusion
The clinical outcomes by the current SNI policy were feasible and comparable to those following classic elective nodal irradiation policy.
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