Cisplatin plus capecitabine as first-line chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer: experience outside of a trial setting.

PURPOSE: Cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is an accepted palliative chemotherapy treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, improving quality of life but not overall survival. Capecitabine in place of 5-FU removes the morbidity of an infusional regime with potential benefit in patient well-being. This study looks at outcomes for cisplatin plus capecitabine (PX) outside of a trial setting. METHODS: Consecutive patients receiving this treatment in a single centre were retrospectively analysed. Cisplatin (mean dose 75 mg/m²) was given on day 1 of a 3-week cycle and capecitabine (mean dose 808 mg/m² twice daily) on days 1-14, for up to 6 cycles. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients (median age 58.6 years) received a median of 4 cycles of chemotherapy. The overall response rate was 30.7%, with a median overall survival of 7.3 months. Treatment was well tolerated with a 10.7% grade 3 and a 1.5% grade 4 neutropenia rate, with no other grade 4 toxicities. One patient died of neutropenic sepsis whilst on treatment. Twenty-seven percent of patients stopped treatment early due to chemotherapy-related side effects. CONCLUSION: PX is well tolerated outside the trial setting with outcomes similar to historical published literature. Ease of administration and benefit to patient convenience make it an attractive alternative to standard palliative treatment.

MRI-guided prostate adaptive radiotherapy - A systematic review.

Dose escalated radiotherapy improves outcomes for men with prostate cancer. A plateau for benefit from dose escalation using EBRT may not have been reached for some patients with higher risk disease. The use of increasingly conformal techniques, such as step and shoot IMRT or more recently VMAT, has allowed treatment intensification to be achieved whilst minimising associated increases in toxicity to surrounding normal structures. To support further safe dose escalation, the uncertainties in the treatment target position will need be minimised using optimal planning and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). In particular the increasing usage of profoundly hypo-fractionated stereotactic therapy is predicated on the ability to confidently direct treatment precisely to the intended target for the duration of each treatment. This article reviews published studies on the influences of varies types of motion on daily prostate position and how these may be mitigated to improve IGRT in future. In particular the role that MRI has played in the generation of data is discussed and the potential role of the MR-Linac in next-generation IGRT is discussed.

Radiotherapy treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer: a survey of current UK practice and commentary.

OBJECTIVE: In the ongoing absence of available trial data, a national survey was carried out to provide details on radiotherapy treatment strategy for non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). METHODS: A survey of clinical oncologists treating NMSC was performed. The respondents were asked for basic information on workload as well as a proposed treatment strategy for various clinical scenarios for patients of varying fitness. RESULTS: A total of 43 completed and 20 partially completed surveys were received. There was a wide variation in the workload and additional disease sites that respondents had responsibility for. Kilovoltage radiotherapy was available to 81% of responders. The respondents' approach was affected by the fitness of patients, with longer fractionation regimes proposed for younger, fitter patients and shorter or non-standard fractionations more likely for the infirm elderly. Four daily fractionation regimes (18-20 Gy in 1 fraction, 35 Gy in 5 fractions, 45 Gy in 10 fractions and 55 Gy in 20 fractions) were most commonly suggested. There was a large degree of variation in non-standard fractions proposed with significant potential differences in radiobiological effect. Concern over the use of kilovoltage photons on skin over cartilage was apparent, as was a reluctance to use radiotherapy in areas of increased risk of poor wound healing. CONCLUSION: The survey results largely showed practice to be in line with available published evidence. The variation seen in some areas, such as non-standard fractionation, would benefit from the publication of local outcomes to achieve a more consistent approach. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This study provides information on national practices and identifies variations, particularly within widespread use of non-standard fractionation.