Clinical study of the radiotherapy with EDGE accelerator in the treatment of the moderate and severe thyroid associated ophthalmopathy.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the short-term efficacy, acute complications and response factors after the radiotherapy with EDGE accelerator in patients with moderate and severe thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 68 patients with moderate and severe TAO who received the radiotherapy with EDGE accelerator between August 1st, 2017 and May 1st, 2011 were enrolled in the present study. The clinical data were collected, and the efficacy and acute complications were followed up, and the response factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients (136 eyes) were followed up for 6 months after radiotherapy. The total score after radiotherapy was significantly lower compared to that before the therapy (p<0.05), and the effective rate was 75.74%. After the radiotherapy, the patient's exophthalmia, soft tissue involvement, eye external muscle involvement, corneal involvement, decreased vision and diplopia, tearing and eyelid pain have improved. Acute complications included increased local inflammation, hair loss, pigmentation and xerophthalmias. In addition, multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that thyroid hormone level was the independent factor for the response to the radiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with moderate and severe TAO, radiotherapy with EDGE accelerator is a safe and effective treatment option. Maintaining normal thyroid hormone level can improve the effective rate of radiotherapy.