[Characteristics of radiotherapy for adolescents and young adults]. / Caractéristiques de la radiothérapie chez les adolescents et les jeunes adultes.

Radiotherapy for adolescents and young adults is complex in several aspects. The population is very heterogeneous and has characteristics derived from both paediatric and adult populations both in terms of pathology (anatomical pathology, response to treatment) and the patient's physical, biological and psychological characteristics. This article reviews the characteristics to be taken into account in adolescent and young adult patients radiotherapy and more particularly in some of the most common diseases.

[Endocrine side effects of radiation therapy: Diagnosis, prevention, and treatment]. / Effets secondaires endocriniens de la radiothérapie : diagnostic, prévention et traitements.

Endocrine complications after radiotherapy are usually delayed and require prolonged follow-up by the radiation oncologist. Endocrine glands are dispersed throughout the body and can be included in the radiation field of several tumors. As the symptomatology can sometimes be insidious and non-specific, their screening is based on a directed clinical examination but also on systematic hormonal assays. The thyroid gland is particularly radiosensitive, and hypothyroidism is generally observed for doses of more than 30Gy. After cervical irradiation, it is recommended to perform a TSH assay every 6 to 12months. The risk of secondary thyroid cancer only concerns children and exists even at low doses, systematic screening is required. The risk of pituitary insufficiency is dose-dependent, with different sensitivity for each axis. In children, the main concern is the early detection of somatotropic insufficiency in order to prevent the risk of short stature. Reproductive function can be impaired after receiving 4-6Gy requiring fertility preservation. Endocrine side effects can be treated to improve quality of life; therefore, we propose several approaches to be followed in order to promote screening and treatment.

Radiotherapy of bone metastases.

We present the update of the recommendations of the French society of oncological radiotherapy on bone metastases. This is a common treatment in the management of patients with cancer. It is a relatively simple treatment with proven efficacy in reducing pain or managing spinal cord compression. More complex treatments by stereotaxis can be proposed for oligometastatic patients or in case of reirradiation. In this context, increased vigilance should be given to the risks to the spinal cord.

[Do dose constraints to organs at risk need to be adapted when irradiation is combined with drug therapy?] / Faut-il moduler les contraintes de dose dans les organes à risque lors d'une irradiation en association avec un traitement anticancéreux systémique ?

Therapeutic strategies combining irradiation and drugs including chemotherapy, hormonotherapy, but also more recently targeted therapy and immunotherapy are routinely used for cancer treatment. Nevertheless, combined treatments usually lead to a rise in toxicity. In order to increase the therapeutic ratio in favour of a multimodality treatment, adapting dose constraints to organs at risk may be the key to lower the risk of toxicity. A review of the literature was conducted, focusing on the toxicity in dose-limiting organs at risk when radiation therapy is associated with drugs. Four situations were differentiated, including : 1) some contraindicated combinations due to an inacceptable increased of toxicity, or recommendations of careful use with restricted indications, reduction in prescribed dose, or severe dose constraints to organs at risk, 2) combined treatments without increased toxicity with no arguments for adjusted dose constraints, 3) associations with higher risk of toxicity, for which dose constraints could be adapted, 4) combined therapies with limited tolerance data, prohibiting their use out of clinical trials.

[Stereotactic body radiotherapy: Prospective study to evaluate asthenia and quality of life]. / Radiothérapie en conditions stéréotaxiques : étude prospective évaluant la fatigue et la qualité de vie.

PURPOSE: To evaluate prospectively asthenia and the quality of life in patients treated by stereotactic body irradiation and to determine their predictive factors. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Quality of life was assessed by the EORTC QLQ-C30 and asthenia was evaluated with the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), on the first day (T1), last day (T2) and 1-3 weeks after the end of treatment (T3). RESULTS: Sixty-three patients were treated with stereotactic body irradiation from February 2017 to May 2017 and 41 were included in the analysis (22 patients excluded for lack of understanding, organization, psychologic disorders or refusal). The mean number of fractions was 5 (±2). The compliance to quality of life assessment was 98%, 95% was 81% at T1, T2 and T3, respectively. An increase of asthenia and a worsened quality of life were found in 12 (29%) and 14 (34%) patients between T1 and T2. Univariate analysis demonstrated a correlation between asthenia and quality of life were correlated with performans status (P=0.03 and 0.05 respectively), hemoglobin level (p=0.01 and 0.004), albumin level (P=0.01 and 0.06), distance between home and radiotherapy department (P=0.05 and 0.02). Multivariate analysis demonstrated a correlation between female gender (P=0.012), albumin level (P<0.001), distance over 25km (P<0.001) with asthenia, and albumin level (P=0.003), hemoglobin level (P=0.004) and previous chemotherapy (P=0.003) with quality of life. No influence of stereotactic body ratiotherapy parameters was seen. CONCLUSION: Despite hypofractionation, stereotactic body radiotherapy induced asthenia and deterioration of quality of life.

Prognostic and therapeutic factors of gliosarcoma from a multi-institutional series.

The aims of this multicentre retrospective study were to identify prognostic or therapeutic factors impacting on overall survival in patients with gliosarcoma. The analysis included all patients treated for gliosarcoma between 1998 and 2014 in seven French academic centres. Seventy-five patients with a median age of 60 years (range from 23 to 79 years) were treated with a combination of surgery (n = 66), radiotherapy (adjuvant for 64 patients and exclusive for 8 patients) and temozolomide based chemotherapy (n = 58). Median follow-up was 12 months (range from 2 to 71 months). Two-year overall survival (OS) and disease free survival rates were 12 % (95 % CI 4-20 %) and 2 % (95 % CI 0-6 %), respectively. The median OS was 13 months. Treatment at recurrence consisted of chemotherapy (n = 38) (bevazicumab for 18 patients, repeat temozolomide for 10 patients), salvage surgery (n = 8) and radiochemotherapy (n = 1). In univariate analysis, younger age, higher total dose of radiotherapy, longer time to recurrence and treatment at recurrence significantly increased OS. In multivariate analysis, high total dose of radiotherapy (HR = 0.97, p = 0.007) and treatment at recurrence (HR = 0.28, p < 0.001) were favourable prognostic factors of OS. Radiotherapy at a minimum dose of 54 Gy and salvage treatment increased OS of gliosarcoma. Unlike glioblastoma, in our analysis, TMZ based chemotherapy was not associated with an improvement in OS compared to patients who received radiation therapy only.

Toxicity and early clinical outcomes in cervical cancer following extended field helical tomotherapy to para-aortic lymph nodes.

PURPOSE: To evaluate toxicity and early disease outcome among patients treated for cervical cancer with extended-field helical tomotherapy to the para-aortic nodes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight patients (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics [FIGO] stage IB2-IVA) from four institutions received extended-field helical tomotherapy and were retrospectively evaluated. All had nodal disease. Para-aortic lymph nodes were involved in 31 patients. Patients were assessed for toxicity using version 4 of the National Cancer Institute's common terminology criteria for adverse events. Survival curves were plotted using Kaplan-Meier estimates. RESULTS: All patients underwent radiation to the tumor region (median dose: 45Gy; range: 44-66Gy), pelvic lymph nodes and para-aortic lymph nodes (median dose: 45Gy; range: 44-60Gy). The median dose to positive lymph nodes was 55Gy (range: 45-65Gy). All received platinum-based chemotherapy (31 concurrently). The median follow-up was 15months. Acute toxicity events observed included one patient with grade 5 febrile neutropenia, 11 patients (29%) with grade 3 hematologic complications. Grades 3-4 gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicities occurred in six (16%) and four (11%) patients, respectively. Three patients had grade 3 pelvic pain (8%). The 6- and 18-month overall survival rates were 94.7 and 63.9%, respectively. The 18-month locoregional control, disease-free survival, and late grade 3 toxicity rates were 60.2, 43.3 and 7.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Extended-field helical tomotherapy was associated with low rates of acute gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicities with early survival and locoregional control similar to other published series.

[Evidence based medicine and high performance irradiation techniques: endometrial cancer]. / Référentiels et techniques d'irradiation de haute précision : cancer de l'endomètre.

Radiation oncology is a field in which many technologic improvements have been made over the past decades. External beam radiotherapy has evolved from treatment fields planned on X-rays to 3-dimensional planning with fusion with MRI's and PET images. Recently, intensity-modulated radiotherapy has been tested for many cancer localizations, and its role in the treatment of gynecologic cancers is still under evaluation. Potential benefits are well known: decrease of treatment toxicity, improvement of efficacy through better dose delivery. But the implementation of this technique requires a careful target and organs at risk delineation. The goal of this review is to evaluate the use of intensity-modulated radiotherapy in endometrial cancers with respect of dosimetric and clinical studies to date. In addition, challenges and perspectives of intensity-modulated radiotherapy integration are discussed.