Do comorbidity influences acute toxicity and outcome in elderly patients with endometrial cancer treated by adjuvant radiotherapy plus brachytherapy?

• Published in: Clinical & translational oncology 2013-08, Vol.15 (8), p.665-669
• Main Authors: Fiorentino, A., Chiumento, C., Fusco, V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Brachytherapy - adverse effects; Brief Research Article; Comorbidity; Endometrial Neoplasms - epidemiology; Endometrial Neoplasms - radiotherapy; Female; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Oncology; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant - adverse effects; Retrospective Studies
• ISSN: 1699-048X; 1699-3055
• DOI: 10.1007/s12094-012-0986-9

Purpose To correlate comorbidity and acute radiation toxicity in elderly patients treated with adjuvant external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) plus brachytherapy-high dose rate (HDR-BRT) for endometrial cancer (EC). Methods Endometrial cancer patients over 65 were treated and evaluated for comorbidity assessment with ACE-27 and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI). EBRT total dose was 45–50.4 Gy (1.8 Gy/day). The vault vagina boost of dose was performed by HDR-BRT with 2/3 fractions with a total dose of 10–15 Gy. Results From 2008 to 2011, 35 patients were analyzed. Eighteen patients (51.43 %) had not ACE-27 comorbidity; while 27 patients (77.14 %) had CCI lower than three. During treatment, acute toxicity was mild and not influenced by the comorbidity score. Two-year Progression Free and Overall Survival were 69 and 80 %. ACE-27 and CCI did not affect progression-free survival ( p  = 0.51, p  = 0.3) and OS ( p  = 0.26, p  = 0.5). Conclusion External beam radiotherapy plus BRT-HDR are well tolerated in EC elderly with good performance status and low comorbidity profile.