Clinical analysis of intracranial germinoma's craniospinal irradiation using helical tomotherapy

Objective： To evaluate the short-term clinical outcomes of intracranial germinoma patients treated with craniospinal irradiation （CSI） using helical tomotherapy （HT） system in our center. Methods： Twenty-three patients who were treated with CSI in our center from January 2008 to July 2012 were collected, with an average age of 20. M1 of the patients＇ CSI used the HT system. The total doses were 27-36 Gy/15-20 F （1.5-2 Gy per fraction）, and total local doses were 46-60 Gy/30-50 F （5 fractions per week）. M1 female patients for CSI were treated with left-right parallel-opposed field irradiation to protect their ovarian functions. Median follow-up time was 30.9 months （range, 5-67 months）. The SPSS19.0 software was used, and the overall survival （OS） was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results： Among 17 patients with assessable tumors, 9 cases （52.9%） were CR, 7 cases （41.2%） were PR, and 1 case （5.9%） was SD. Hematological toxicity was the severest side-effect occurred in the procedure of CSI. The level 1-4 acute leukopenia were 8.7%, 30.4%, 34.8% and 21.7% and the level 1-4 acute thrombopenia were 8.7%, 30.4%, 21.7% and 8.7%, respectively. Conclusions： For primary intracranial germinomas, HT can be used to implement CSI for simplifying radiotherapy procedures, improving radiotherapy accuracy, enhancing protection of peripheral organs at risk （ORA） and guaranteeing therapeutic effects. With the acceptable acute and long-term toxicity, CSI using HT in intracranial germinoma patients can be a safe and alternative mode.

Evaluation of Efficacy and Toxicity of Helical Tomotherapy in the Treatment of Patients with Nasal NK/T-Cell Lymphoma

Purpose: Nasal lymphoma created dosimetric challenges in radiotherapy due to the complex anatomical structures. This study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of helical Tomotherapy (HT) in the treatment of nasal NK/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) patients. Methods and Materials: Between August 2008 and April 2013, a total of 25 NKTCL patients were treated with HT in our department;Among them, three patients have not received chemotherapy, one patient has received concurrent chemo-radiation with CHOP plus L-ASP, two patients have received the sequential chemotherapy regimen following irradiation, and all the others have received 1 - 2 cycles of induction chemotherapy followed by irradiation and then with sequential chemotherapy. CHOP-L with 1 - 7 cycles (median: 4 cycles) was utilized as the main chemotherapy regimen. As for HT, the gross tumor volume (GTV) received target doses (TD) ranging from 50 to 56 Gy (median: 50 Gy) at 2 - 2.78 Gy per fraction;and the clinical target volume (CTV) from 36 to 50 Gy (median: 40 Gy) at 1.6 - 2 Gy per fraction. Results: For those patients who had received irradiation, thirteen achieved complete remission (CR), four partial responses (PR);four had progressive disease (PD), two were lost to follow-up, two died within one month after irradiation and were not followed. In 21 patients with follow-up records, the overall response (CR + PR) was 81.0% with the 3-year survival rate of 87.2%, and the mean survival time was 52.8 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 45.2 - 60.4 months]. After radiotherapy the majority of patients had dry mouth and taste changes in varying degrees, and a small portion of patients had compromised hearing or vision functions. No brain injury symptoms occurred during radiation radiotherapy. Conclusions: As compared with conventional three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) performed with HT, HT appears to have more favorable efficacy and toxicity profiles in the treatment of NKTCL. Further systematic and randomized clinical research is under investigation.