Abstract
Purpose: Role of adjuvant radiotherapy postmastectomy in improving local-regional control and overall survival is well established. Conventional radiotherapy delivers 50-60 Gray (Gy) in 5-6 weeks time and often women find it difficult to comply with this treatment. A shorter duration hypofractionated treatment, if found to be safe and effective, will be more convenient for patients and treatment providers alike and hence the need for this prospective study
Materials & Methods: Fifty breast cancer patients who underwent mastectomy were enrolled and randomized into the study arms- Conventional Arm (CF) [50Gy in 25 Fractions] and Hypofractionation arm (HF) [40Gy in 15 Fractions]. Treatment related acute toxicities and compliance to treatment were recorded and compared between the arms using appropriate statistical tools.
Results: Both arm enrolled 25 patients each and their baseline characters were found well matched. Incidence of Grade2 and 3 acute skin toxicities was higher in the CF arm (28% and 8%, respectively) as compared to HF arm (16% and 0%, respectively). Grade 1 Odynophagia was also higher in CF arm (68% vs 52%). The difference in toxicities was not statistically significant (p-value >0.05). With regards to treatment duration, a mean delay of 1.8 days in HF arm versus 4.76 days in CF arm was observed (p- value 0.0009), implying that the shorter duration HF arm had significantly less interruptions in treatment completion.
Conclusion: In postmastectomy setting, hypofractionated radiotherapy showed lesser acute toxicities, was better in terms of treatment compliance and hence can be used routinely.
Keywords: Hypofractionation, Postmastectomy, Breast Cancer, Radiotherapy.
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Corresponding Author
Partha Pratim Medhi, MD (Radiotherapy)
Registrar, Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr. Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer institute, Gopinath Nagar, Guwahati-781016, Dist.- Kamrup (M), Assam, India
Phone no.: +918399815602, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i7.125
