Keywords:
Ear / Nose / Throat, Head and neck, Oncology, CT, Radiation therapy / Oncology, Radiobiology, Stereotactic radiotherapy, Radiotherapy techniques
Authors:
B. Y. J. Leow1, A. Glenn1, K. Kandasamy1, A. Cullen1, S. P. Ng2, J. Chang1; 1Sydney, NSW/AU, 2Heidelberg, VIC/AU
DOI:
10.26044/ranzcr2021/R-0306
Purpose
Curative treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma often involves surgery and/or radiotherapy. Delivery of curative treatment may not always be possible, either due to patient frailty, tumour extent, and/or presence of distant metastasis. In this patient cohort, palliative radiotherapy for local tumour control is usually considered for the purposes of improving or delaying potential symptoms such as pain and dysphagia that could affect patient’s quality of life.
Several effective conventional palliative radiotherapy (CPRT) regimens have been developed with varying outcomes in tumour control and toxicity [1,2]. There are limited studies in the literature reporting the use of Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy (SABR) in patients with previously untreated head and neck cancer. However, these have so far demonstrated toxicity profiles at least similar to that of CPRT, with a possible advantage in tumour control [3-6].
In this study, we evaluated the role of SABR by performing a biological modelling study, comparing SABR to CPRT and curative-dose volumetric-modulated arc therapy (CD-VMAT).