Clinical outcome after pencil beam scanning proton therapy and dysphagia/xerostomia NTCP calculations of proton and photon radiotherapy delivered to patients with cancer of the major salivary glands.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to report the oncological outcome, observed toxicities and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) calculation for pencil beam scanning (PBS) PT delivered to salivary gland tumour (SGT) patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 26 SGT patients treated with PBSPT (median dose, 67.5 Gy(RBE)) between 2005 and 2020 at our institute. Toxicities were recorded according to CTCAEv.4.1. Overall survival (OS), local control (LC), locoregional control (LRC) and distant control (DC) were estimated. For all patients, a photon plan was re-calculated in order to assess the photon/proton NTCP. RESULTS: With a median follow-up time of 46 months (range, 3-118), 5 (19%), 2 (8%), 3 (12%) and 2 (8%) patients presented after PT with distant, local, locoregional failures and death, respectively. The estimated 4 year OS, LC, LCR and DC were 90%, 90%, 87 and 77%, respectively. Grade 3 late toxicity was observed in 2 (8%) patients. The estimated 4 year late high-grade (≥3) toxicity-free survival was 78.4%. The calculated mean difference of NTCP-values after PBSPT and VMAT plans for developing Grade 2 or 3 xerostomia were 3.8 and 2.9%, respectively. For Grade 2-3 dysphagia, the grade corresponding percentages were 8.6 and 1.9%. Not using an up-front model-based approach to select patients for PT, only 40% of our patients met the Dutch eligibility criteria. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest excellent oncological outcome and low late toxicity rates for patients with SGT treated with PBSPT. NTCP calculation showed a substantial risk reduction for Grade 2 or 3 xerostomia and dysphagia in some SGT patients, while for others, no clear benefit was seen with protons, suggesting that comparative planning should be performed routinely for these patients. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: We have reported that the clinical outcome of SGT patients treated with PT and compared IMPT to VMAT for the treatment of salivary gland tumour and have observed that protons delivered significantly less dose to organs at risks and were associated with less NTCP for xerostomia and dysphagia. Noteworthy, not using an up-front model-based approach, only 40% of our patients met the Dutch eligibility criteria.

Quality-of-life evaluations in children and adolescents with Ewing sarcoma treated with pencil-beam-scanning proton therapy.

BACKGROUND: With improved survival rates for children with cancer, quality-of-life (QoL) issues have increasingly become the focus of attention. We report the QoL of children with Ewing sarcoma (EWS) treated with pencil-beam-scanning proton therapy (PT). METHODS: A PEDQOL (QoL questionnaire for children 4-18 years) self/proxy questionnaire was used to prospectively assess the QoL of 23 children <18 years with EWS treated with PT. This questionnaire evaluates eight different domains. Children (self-rating) and parents (proxy-rating) filled out the questionnaire at the start of PT (E1), 2 months after treatment (E2), and thereafter once yearly (E≥3). RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, parents rated the QoL of their children at E1 significantly worse in all but two (cognition and social functioning-family) domains. At E4, significant differences between the two groups only remained in three of eight domains. At E1, children self-rated their QoL significantly worse in the domain Physical functioning (p = .004) and significantly better in the domain Body image (p = .044) compared to healthy controls, whereas no significant differences were observed at E4. For the longitudinal comparison E1 versus E4, according to parents, Emotional functioning, Cognition and Social functioning-peers were slightly decreased 2 years after PT. The children rated Emotional functioning and Body image poorly 2 years after PT. CONCLUSIONS: Children with EWS usually recovered seemingly well to normal QoL levels 2 years after the end of PT. They tended to rate their QoL substantially higher than their parents. However, in the longitudinal analysis at 2 years, children rated their Emotional functioning and Body image scores poorly.

Hearing Loss in Cancer Patients with Skull Base Tumors Undergoing Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

To assess the incidence and severity of changes in hearing threshold in patients undergoing high-dose pencil-beam-scanning proton therapy (PBS-PT). This retrospective cohort study included fifty-one patients (median 50 years (range, 13-68)) treated with PBS-PT for skull base tumors. No chemotherapy was delivered. Pure tone averages (PTAs)were determined before (baseline) and after PBS-PT as the average hearing thresholds at frequencies of 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz. Hearing changes were calculated as PTA differences between pre-and post-PBS-PT. A linear mixed-effects model was used to assess the relationship between the PTA at the follow-up and the baseline, the cochlea radiation dose intensity, the increased age, and the years after PBS-PT. Included patients were treated for chordoma (n = 24), chondrosarcoma (n = 9), head and neck tumors (n = 9), or meningioma (n = 3), with a mean tumor dose of 71.1 Gy (RBE) (range, 52.0-77.8), and a mean dose of 37 Gy (RBE) (range, 0.0-72.7) was delivered to the cochleas. The median time to the first follow-up was 11 months (IQR, 5.5-33.7). The PTA increased from a median of 15 dB (IQR 10.0-25) at the baseline to 23.8 (IQR 11.3-46.3) at the first follow-up. In the linear mixed-effect model, the baseline PTA (estimate 0.80, 95%CI 0.64 to 0.96, p ≤ 0.001), patient's age (0.30, 0.03 to 0.57, p = 0.029), follow-up time (2.07, 0.92 to 3.23, p ≤ 0.001), and mean cochlear dose in Gy (RBE) (0.34, 0.21 to 0.46, p ≤ 0.001) were all significantly associated with an increase in PTA at follow-up. The applied cochlear dose and baseline PTA, age, and time after treatment were significantly associated with hearing loss after proton therapy.

Commissioning and quality assurance of a novel solution for respiratory-gated PBS proton therapy based on optical tracking of surface markers.

We present the commissioning and quality assurance of our clinical protocol for respiratory gating in pencil beam scanning proton therapy for cancer patients with moving targets. In a novel approach, optical tracking has been integrated in the therapy workflow and used to monitor respiratory motion from multiple surrogates, applied on the patients' chest. The gating system was tested under a variety of experimental conditions, specific to proton therapy, to evaluate reaction time and reproducibility of dose delivery control. The system proved to be precise in the application of beam gating and allowed the mitigation of dose distortions even for large (1.4cm) motion amplitudes, provided that adequate treatment windows were selected. The total delivered dose was not affected by the use of gating, with measured integral error within 0.15cGy. Analysing high-resolution images of proton transmission, we observed negligible discrepancies in the geometric location of the dose as a function of the treatment window, with gamma pass rate greater than 95% (2%/2mm) compared to stationary conditions. Similarly, pass rate for the latter metric at the 3%/3mm level was observed above 97% for clinical treatment fields, limiting residual movement to 3mm at end-exhale. These results were confirmed in realistic clinical conditions using an anthropomorphic breathing phantom, reporting a similarly high 3%/3mm pass rate, above 98% and 94%, for regular and irregular breathing, respectively. Finally, early results from periodic QA tests of the optical tracker have shown a reliable system, with small variance observed in static and dynamic measurements.

Enhanced Deep-Inspiration Breath Hold Superior to High-Frequency Percussive Ventilation for Respiratory Motion Mitigation: A Physiology-Driven, MRI-Guided Assessment Toward Optimized Lung Cancer Treatment With Proton Therapy.

Background: To safely treat lung tumors using particle radiation therapy (PRT), motion-mitigation strategies are of critical importance to ensure precise irradiation. Therefore, we compared applicability, effectiveness, reproducibility, and subjects' acceptance of enhanced deep-inspiration breath hold (eDIBH) with high-frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) by MRI assessment within 1 month. Methods: Twenty-one healthy subjects (12 males/9 females; age: 49.5 ± 5.8 years; BMI: 24.7 ± 3.3 kg/m-2) performed two 1.5 T MRI scans in four visits at weekly intervals under eDIBH and HFPV conditions, accompanied by daily, home-based breath-hold training and spirometric assessments over a 3-week period. eDIBH consisted of 8-min 100% O2 breathing (3 min resting ventilation, 5 min controlled hyperventilation) prior to breath hold. HFPV was set at 200-250 pulses min-1 and 0.8-1.2 bar. Subjects' acceptance and preference were evaluated by questionnaire. To quantify inter- and intrafractional changes, a lung distance metric representing lung topography was computed for 10 reference points: a motion-invariant spinal cord and nine lung structure contours (LSCs: apex, carina, diaphragm, and six vessels as tumor surrogates distributed equally across the lung). To parameterize individual LSC localizability, measures of their spatial variabilities were introduced and lung volumes calculated by automated MRI analysis. Results: eDIBH increased breath-hold duration by > 100% up to 173 ± 73 s at visit 1, and to 217 ± 67 s after 3 weeks of home-based training at visit 4 (p < 0.001). Measures of vital capacity and lung volume remained constant over the 3-week period. Two vessels in the lower lung segment and the diaphragm yielded a two- to threefold improved positional stability with eDIBH, whereby absolute distance variability was significantly smaller for five LSCs; ≥70% of subjects showed significantly better intrafractional lung motion mitigation under reproducible conditions with eDIBH compared with HFPV with smaller ranges most apparent in the anterior-posterior and cranial-caudal directions. Approximately 80% of subjects preferred eDIBH over HFPV, with "less discomfort" named as most frequent reason. Conclusions: Both, eDIBH, and HFPV were well-tolerated. eDIBH duration was long enough to allow for potential PRT. Variability in lung volume was smaller and position of lung structures more precise with eDIBH. Subjects preferred eDIBH over HFPV. Thus, eDIBH is a very promising tool for lung tumor therapy with PRT, and further investigation of its applicability in patients is warranted.

Dosimetric influence of deformable image registration uncertainties on propagated structures for online daily adaptive proton therapy of lung cancer patients.

PURPOSE: A major burden of introducing an online daily adaptive proton therapy (DAPT) workflow is the time and resources needed to correct the daily propagated contours. In this study, we evaluated the dosimetric impact of neglecting the online correction of the propagated contours in a DAPT workflow. MATERIAL AND METHODS: For five NSCLC patients with nine repeated deep-inspiration breath-hold CTs, proton therapy plans were optimised on the planning CT to deliver 60 Gy-RBE in 30 fractions. All repeated CTs were registered with six different clinically used deformable image registration (DIR) algorithms to the corresponding planning CT. Structures were propagated rigidly and with each DIR algorithm and reference structures were contoured on each repeated CT. DAPT plans were optimised with the uncorrected, propagated structures (propagated DAPT doses) and on the reference structures (ideal DAPT doses), non-adapted doses were recalculated on all repeated CTs. RESULTS: Due to anatomical changes occurring during the therapy, the clinical target volume (CTV) coverage of the non-adapted doses reduces on average by 9.7% (V95) compared to an ideal DAPT doses. For the propagated DAPT doses, the CTV coverage was always restored (average differences in the CTV V95 < 1% compared to the ideal DAPT doses). Hotspots were always reduced with any DAPT approach. CONCLUSION: For the patients presented here, a benefit of online DAPT was shown, even if the daily optimisation is based on propagated structures with some residual uncertainties. However, a careful (offline) structure review is necessary and corrections can be included in an offline adaption.

Pretreatment central quality control for craniospinal irradiation in non-metastatic medulloblastoma : First experiences of the German radiotherapy quality control panel in the SIOP PNET5 MB trial.

PURPOSE: Several studies have demonstrated the negative impact of radiotherapy protocol deviations on tumor control in medulloblastoma. In the SIOP PNET5 MB trial, a pretreatment radiotherapy quality control (RT-QC) program was introduced. A first analysis for patients enrolled in Germany, Switzerland and Austria with focus on types of deviations in the initial plan proposals and review criteria for modern radiation technologies was performed. METHODS AND PATIENTS: Sixty-nine craniospinal irradiation (CSI) plans were available for detailed analyses. RT-QC was performed according to protocol definitions on dose uniformity. Because of the lack of definitions for high-precision 3D conformal radiotherapy within the protocol, additional criteria for RT-QC on delineation and coverage of clinical target volume (CTV) and planning target volume (PTV) were defined and evaluated. RESULTS: Target volume (CTV/PTV) deviations occurred in 49.3% of initial CSI plan proposals (33.3% minor, 15.9% major). Dose uniformity deviations were less frequent (43.5%). Modification of the RT plan was recommended in 43.5% of CSI plans. Unacceptable RT plans were predominantly related to incorrect target delineation rather than dose uniformity. Unacceptable plans were negatively correlated to the number of enrolled patients per institution with a cutoff of 5 patients (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: This prospective pretreatment individual case review study revealed a high rate of deviations and emphasizes the strong need of pretreatment RT-QC in clinical trials for medulloblastoma. Furthermore, the experiences point out the necessity of new RT-QC criteria for high-precision CSI techniques.

Outcomes of adolescents and young adults treated for brain and skull base tumors with pencil beam scanning proton therapy.

BACKGROUND: The use of proton therapy (PT) in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) is becoming increasingly popular. This study aims to assess the outcomes and late toxicity consequences in AYAs (15-39 years) with brain/skull base tumors treated with pencil beam scanning proton therapy. METHODS: One hundred seventy six AYAs treated curatively at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) were identified. Median age was 30 years (range 15-39) and median prescribed dose was 70.0 Gy (relative biological effectiveness [RBE]) (range 50.4-76.0). The most common tumors treated were chordomas/chondrosarcomas (61.4%), followed by gliomas (15.3%), and meningiomas (14.2%). RESULTS: After a median follow up of 66 months (range 12-236), 24 (13.6%) local only failures and one (0.6%) central nervous system (CNS) distant only failure were observed. The 6-year local control, distant progression-free survival, and overall survival were 83.2%, 97.4%, and 90.2%, respectively. The 6-year high-grade (≥grade [G] 3) PT-related late toxicity-free survival was 88.5%. Crude late toxicity rates were 26.2% G1, 37.8% G2, 12.2% G3, 0.6% G4, and 0.6% G5. The one G4 toxicity was a retinopathy and one G5 toxicity was a brainstem hemorrhage. The 6-year cumulative incidences for any late PT-related pituitary, ototoxicity, and neurotoxicity were 36.3%, 18.3%, and 25.6%; whilst high-grade (≥G3) ototoxicity and neurotoxicity were 3.4% and 2.9%, respectively. No secondary malignancies were observed. The rate of unemployment was 9.5% pre-PT, increasing to 23.8% post-PT. Sixty-two percent of survivors were working whilst 12.7% were in education post-PT. CONCLUSIONS: PT is an effective treatment for brain/skull base tumors in the AYA population with a reasonable late toxicity profile. Despite good clinical outcomes, around one in four AYA survivors are unemployed after treatment.

Clinical outcomes of head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma patients treated with pencil beam-scanning proton therapy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) treated using pencil beam scanning proton therapy (PBS PT) at our institution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five patients who underwent treatment with PBS PT for ACC between 2001 and 2017 were included. Local control (LC), distant control (DC), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and their prognostic factors were evaluated. Adverse effects were prospectively assessed. RESULTS: The median patient follow-up was 30 months. Prior to PT, 26 patients (74.3%) underwent surgery with R0/R1/R2 outcome in 5, 13 and 8 cases, respectively. Nine patients (25.7%) presented with inoperable disease. The 2-year LC, DC, PFS and OS was 92.2%, 77.8%, 74.3% and 88.8%, respectively. LC was influenced by patient age (p = 0.002) with a significant difference between local and distant failure (median 61.3 vs. 42.3 years, p = 0.005). Tumor T stage was a significant risk factor for PFS (p = 0.045) and tumor prognostic group affected OS (p = 0.049). No significant survival advantage for operable vs. inoperable disease could be identified. The acute and late grade 3 toxicity rates were 14.3% and 6.1%, respectively. No acute or late grade 4/5 toxicities were observed. CONCLUSIONS: PBS PT is an effective and safe treatment for patients with head & neck ACC in both definitive and adjuvant setting. Distant metastases are the main pattern of failure. Age, tumor stage and clinical stage had a significant negative impact on LC, OS and PFS.

Pencil beam scanning proton therapy for the treatment of craniopharyngioma complicated with radiation-induced cerebral vasculopathies: A dosimetric and linear energy transfer (LET) evaluation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study analyses the dosimetric and dose averaged Linear Energy transfer (LETd) correlation in paediatric craniopharyngioma (CP) patients with and without radiation-induced cerebral vasculopathies (RICVs) treated with pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy (PT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We reviewed a series of 16 CP patients treated with PT to a median dose of 54 Gy(RBE). Two (12.5%) index patients presented RICVs 14 and 24 months (median, 19) after PT. Organs at risks (OARs) as bilateral internal carotid arteries (ICAs) and circle of Willis were contoured based on CTs and MRIs pre- and post-PT. Dosimetry was reviewed and LETd distributions were calculated; LETd metric for PTVs and OARs were analysed. For a sub-cohort, dosimetric and LETd values robustness due to range uncertainties were computed. RESULTS: For the two index patients, no correlation was observed between RICVs and OARs doses. However for those patients mean(maximum) LETd values in the affected OARs were up to 4.0 ± 0.4 (7.8 ± 0.1)keV/µm; those LETd values were significantly higher (p = 0.02) than the mean(maximum) LETd values for the rest of the cohort (mean: 3.1 ± 0.3, maximum: 4.8 ± 1.0 keV/µm). This was due to asymmetric field arrangement, thus resulting in marked asymmetric LETd distributions. For such arrangement, maximum LETd values variations in vascular structures due to range uncertainties were up to 1.2 keV/µm, whilst for the symmetric one they were up to 0.7 keV/µm. CONCLUSIONS: For children with and without RICVs, quantitative analysis showed a significant correlation with LETd average/maximum values in vascular structures, whilst no correlation was found on dosimetric parameters.

Prognostic impact of the "Sekhar grading system for cranial Chordomas" in patients treated with pencil beam scanning proton therapy: an institutional analysis.

BACKGROUND: Skull base chordomas are rare and heterogeneously behaving tumors. Though still classified as benign they can grow rapidly, are locally aggressive, and have the potential to metastasize. To adapt the treatment to the specific needs of patients at higher risk of recurrence, a pre-proton therapy prognostic grading system would be useful. The aim of this retrospective analysis is to assess prognostic factors and the "Sekhar Grading System for Cranial Chordomas" (SGSCC) by evaluating the larger cohort of patients treated at our institution as to determine its reproducibility and ultimately to ensure more risk adapted local treatments for these challenging tumors. METHODS: We analyzed 142 patients treated for skull base chordomas between 2004 and 2016. We focused the analysis on the 5 criteria proposed for the SGSCC (tumor size, number of anatomic regions and vessels involved, intradural invasion, as well as recurrence after prior treatment) and classified our patients according to their score (based on the above mentioned criteria) into three prognostic groups, low-risk, intermediate-risk and high-risk. The three groups were then analyzed in regards of local control, local recurrence-free survival and overall survival. RESULTS: The median follow up was 52 months (range, 3-152). We observed 34 (24%) patients with a local recurrence, resulting in a local control of 75% at 5 years. Overall survival was 83% at 5 years, 12 (9%) patients had died due to local progression. When split into the three prognostic groups according to the SGSCC the observed local control was 90, 72 and 64% (p = 0.07) in the low-, intermediate- and high-risk group, respectively. A similar correlation was observed for local recurrence-free survival with 93, 89 and 66% (p = 0.05) and for overall survival with 89, 83 and 76% (p = 0.65) for the same prognostic groups. CONCLUSIONS: After splitting our patient cohort into the three SGSCC risk groups, we found a trend towards better outcome for those patients with lower as opposed to higher scores. These results suggest that this prognostic grading system published by Sekhar et al. could be integrated in the management decision-tree for patients with skull base chordoma.

Deformable image registration uncertainty for inter-fractional dose accumulation of lung cancer proton therapy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients show typically large anatomical changes during treatment, making recalculation or adaption necessary. For report and review, the applied treatment dose can be accumulated on the reference planning CT using deformable image registration (DIR). We investigated the dosimetric impact of using six different clinically available DIR algorithms for dose accumulation in presence of inter-fractional anatomy variations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For seven NSCLC patients, proton treatment plans with 66 Gy-RBE to the planning target volume (PTV) were optimised. Nine repeated CTs were registered to the planning CT using six DIR algorithms each. All CTs were acquired in visually guided deep-inspiration breath-hold. The plans were recalculated on the repeated CTs and warped back to the planning CT using the corresponding DIRs. Fraction doses warped with the same DIR were summed up to six different accumulated dose distributions per patient, and compared to the initial dose. RESULTS: The PTV-V95 of accumulated doses decreased by 16% on average over all patients, with variations due to DIR selection of 8.7%. A separation of the dose effects caused by anatomical changes and DIR uncertainty showed a good agreement between the dose degradation caused by anatomical changes and the dose predicted from the average of all DIRs (differences of only 1.6%). CONCLUSION: The dose degradation caused by anatomical changes was more pronounced than the uncertainty of employing different DIRs for dose accumulation, with averaged results from several DIRs providing a good representation of dose degradation caused by anatomy. However, accumulated dose variations between DIRs can be substantial, leading to an additional dose uncertainty.

Prognostic factors for spinal chordomas and chondrosarcomas treated with postoperative pencil-beam scanning proton therapy: a large, single-institution experience.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to evaluate the prognostic factors in surgical and adjuvant care for spinal chordomas and chondrosarcomas after surgery followed by high-dose pencil-beam scanning proton therapy (PBS-PT). METHODS: From 1997 to 2016, 155 patients (61 female patients; median age 55 years) with spinal (cervical, n = 61; thoracic, n = 29; lumbar, n = 13; sacral, n = 46; pelvic, n = 6) classic chordomas (n = 116) and chondrosarcomas (n = 39; most were low grade) were treated with maximal safe resection followed by PBS-PT (median dose prescribed: 74 Gy [relative biological effectiveness], range 48.6-77 Gy). The majority of patients (n = 153, 98.7%) had undergone at least 1 resection prior to PBS-PT (median 1, range 0-5; biopsy only, n = 2). Fewer than half (45.1%) of the surgeries were rated as gross-total resections (GTRs) prior to PBS-PT. Surgical stabilization (SS) was present in 39% of all patients (n = 60). Ninety-one patients (59%) presented with macroscopic tumor at the start of PBS-PT. The median follow-up duration was 64.7 months (range 12.2-204.8 months). RESULTS: The 5-year local tumor control, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival were 64.9% (95% CI 56.3%-73.5%), 59.4% (95% CI 50.6%-68.2%), and 77.9% (95% CI 70.6%-85.2%), respectively. In total, 63 patients (40.6%) experienced failure during the follow-up period: local only in 32 (20.6%), distal only in 7 (4.5%), local + distal in 19 (12.3%), surgical pathway failure (SPF) only in 2 (1.3%), local + SPF in 2 (1.3%), and distal + SPF in 1 (< 1%). Univariate analysis identified gross residual disease, the presence of SS, and treatment era prior to 2008 as highly significant for worse outcome, with all 3 remaining significant on multivariate analysis. The type of surgery (GTR or subtotal resection/biopsy) and whether GTR was achieved by en bloc or curettage did not show a significant prognostic effect. Surgical complications prior to PBS-PT were present in 42.5% of all surgically treated patients and were seen more commonly in patients with multiple surgical interventions (p = 0.005) and those operated on with the intent of en bloc resection (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: The extent of resection and metallic stabilization substantially influenced clinical outcomes for patients with spinal chordoma or chondrosarcoma despite high-dose adjuvant PBS-PT. Optimal upfront surgical management of these tumors continues to include GTR, as possible, with prompt adjuvant proton therapy.

Early results and volumetric analysis after spot-scanning proton therapy with concomitant hyperthermia in large inoperable sacral chordomas.

OBJECTIVE: Large inoperable sacral chordomas show unsatisfactory local control rates even when treated with high dose proton therapy (PT). The aim of this study is assessing feasibility and reporting early results of patients treated with PT and concomitant hyperthermia (HT). METHODS:: Patients had histologically proven unresectable sacral chordomas and received 70 Gy (relative biological effectiveness) in 2.5 Gy fractions with concomitant weekly HT. Toxicity was assessed according to CTCAE_v4. A volumetric tumor response analysis was performed. RESULTS:: Five patients were treated with the combined approach. Median baseline tumor volume was 735 cc (range, 369-1142). All patients completed PT and received a median of 5 HT sessions (range, 2-6). Median follow-up was 18 months (range, 9-26). The volumetric analysis showed an objective response of all tumors (median shrinkage 46%; range, 9-72). All patients experienced acute Grade 2-3 local pain. One patient presented with a late Grade 3 iliac fracture. CONCLUSION: Combining PT and HT in large inoperable sacral chordomas is feasible and causes acceptable toxicity. Volumetric analysis shows promising early results, warranting confirmation in the framework of a prospective trial. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE:: This is an encouraging first report of the feasibility and early results of concomitant HT and PT in treating inoperable sacral chordoma.

Radiation-induced optic neuropathy after pencil beam scanning proton therapy for skull-base and head and neck tumours.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the radiation-induced optic neuropathy (RION) prevalence, following high dose pencil beam scanning proton therapy (PBSPT) to skull base and head and neck (H&N) tumours. METHODS: Between 1999 and 2014, 216 adult patients, median age 47 years (range, 18-77), were treated with PBS PT for skull base or H&N malignancies, delivering ≥45 GyRBE to the optic nerve(s) (ON) and/or optic chiasma (OC). The median administered dose to the planning target volume was 74.0 GyRBE (range, 54.0-77.4). The median follow-up was 5.3 years (range, 0.8-15.9). RESULTS: RION was observed in 14 (6.5%) patients at a median time of 13.2 months (range, 4.8-42.6) following PBSPT. Most (92.9%) of RION were symptomatic. Most affected patients (11/14; 79%) developed unilateral toxicity. Grade 4, 3, 2 and 1 toxicity was observed in 10, 2, 1 and 1 patients, respectively. On univariate analyses, age (<70 vs ≥70 years; p < 0.0001), hypertension (p = 0.0007) and tumour abutting the optic apparatus (p = 0.012) were associated with RION. OC's V60 GyRBE was of border line significance (p = 0.06). None of the other evaluated OC-ON dose/volume metrics (Dmax, Dmean, V40-60) were significantly associated with this complication. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that high-dose PBS PT for skull base and H&N tumours is associated with a low prevalence of RION. Caution should be however exercised when treating elderly/hypertensive patients with tumours abutting the optic apparatus. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This is the first study reporting the risk of developing RION following proton therapy with PBS technique, demonstrating the safety of this treatment.

Proton therapy for brain tumours in the area of evidence-based medicine.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This review details the indication of brain tumors for proton therapy and give a list of the open prospective trials for these challenging tumors.

Relation of baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio to survival and toxicity in head and neck cancer patients treated with (chemo-) radiation.

BACKGROUND: A high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a marker of systemic inflammation and together with the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is associated with worse outcomes in several solid tumors. We investigated the prognostic value of NLR and PLR in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with primary or adjuvant (chemo)radiotherapy ((C)RT). METHODS: A retrospective chart review of consecutive patients with HNSCC was performed. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and PLR were computed using complete blood counts (CBCs) performed within 10 days before treatment start. The prognostic role of NLR and PLR was evaluated with univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses adjusting for disease-specific prognostic factors. NLR and PLR were assessed as log-transformed continuous variables (log NLR and log PLR). Endpoints of interest were overall survival (OS), locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS), and acute toxicity. RESULTS: We analyzed 186 patients treated from 2007 to 2010. Primary sites were oropharynx (45%), oral cavity (28%), hypopharynx (14%), and larynx (13%). Median follow-up was 49 months. Higher NLR was associated with OS (adjusted HR per 1 unit higher log NLR = 1.81 (1.16-2.81), p = 0.012), whereas no association could be shown with LRFS (HR = 1.49 (0,83-2,68), p = 0.182), DRFS (HR = 1.38 (0.65-3.22), p = 0.4), or acute toxicity grade ≥ 2. PLR was not associated with outcome, nor with toxicity. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that in HNSCC patients treated with primary or adjuvant (C)RT, NLR is an independent predictor of mortality, but not disease-specific outcomes or toxicity. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is a readily available biomarker that could improve pre-treatment prognostication and may be used for risk-stratification.

Long term outcome of skull-base chondrosarcoma patients treated with high-dose proton therapy with or without conventional radiation therapy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Skull-base chondrosarcoma (ChSa) is a rare bone tumor and the outcome of patients with this malignancy has been documented only in a limited number of series with a restricted number of patients. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to assess the outcome and prognostic factors of a large cohort of ChSa patients treated with radiotherapy in two proton therapy centers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1996 to 2015, 251 (male, 43.4%) patients (mean age, 42.0 ±â€¯16.2 years) were treated with protons with (n = 135; 53.8%) or without photons (n = 116; 46.2%). Median delivered dose was 70.2 GyRBE. Failure-free survival (FFS), overall survival (OS) and CTCAE grade ≥3 toxicity free survival (TFS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 88.0 months for surviving patients, local and distant failures were observed in 12 (4.8%) and 4 (1.6%) patients, respectively. Late failures >6 years were observed in 4 (33.3%) patients. The estimated 7-year FFS was 93.1%. Twenty-five (10%) patients died. The estimated 7-year OS was 93.6%. Tumor volume (p = 0.006) and optic pathway compression (p = 0.027) were significantly associated with the risk of treatment failure on univariate analysis. Treatment failure was significantly associated with a higher risk of death (hazard ratio = 126). The estimated 7-year TFS was 84.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of skull-base ChSa patients treated with high-dose protons with or without photons is excellent, particularly for patients with small tumors with no optic pathway compression. Treatment failure was however associated with a significantly increased risk of death.

Radiation Necrosis and White Matter Lesions in Pediatric Patients With Brain Tumors Treated With Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy.

PURPOSE: To assess the rate of radiation necrosis (RN) and white matter lesions (WMLs) in pediatric patients with primary brain tumors treated with pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy (PT) with or without concomitant chemotherapy at the PSI. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between 1999 and 2015, 171 pediatric patients (age <18 years) were treated with PT. Median age at diagnosis was 3.3 years (range, 0.3-17.0 years), and the median delivered dose was 54 Gy (relative biological effectiveness) (range, 40.0-74.1 Gy). Radiation necrosis and WMLs were defined as a new area of abnormal signal intensity on T2-weighted images or increased signal intensity on T2-weighted images, and contrast enhancement on T1 occurring in the brain parenchyma included in the radiation treatment field, which did not demonstrate any abnormality before PT. Radiation necrosis and WMLs were graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. The median follow-up period for the surviving patients was 49.8 months (range, 5.9-194.7 months). RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients (17%) developed RN at a median time of 5 months (range, 1-26 months), most of them (n = 17; 59%) being asymptomatic (grade 1). Grade 2, 4, and 5 toxicities occurred in 8, 2, and 2 patients, respectively. Eighteen patients (11%) developed WMLs at a median time of 14.5 months (range, 2-62 months), most of them (n = 13; 72%) being asymptomatic (grade 1). White matter lesion grade 2 and 3 toxicities occurred in 4 and 1 patient(s), respectively. The 5-year RN-free and WML-free survival was 83% and 87%, respectively. In univariate analysis, neoadjuvant (P = .025) or any (P = .03) chemotherapy, hydrocephalus before PT (P = .035), and ependymoma (P = .026) histology were significant predictors of RN. CONCLUSIONS: Children treated with PT demonstrated a low prevalence of symptomatic RN (7%) or WML (3%) compared with similar cohorts treated with either proton or photon radiation therapy. Chemotherapy, ependymomal tumors and hydrocephalus as an initial symptom were significant risk factors for RN.

Long-Term Clinical Outcomes of Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy for Benign and Non-benign Intracranial Meningiomas.

PURPOSE: To assess and report long-term clinical outcomes regarding local control, overall survival, and toxicity-free survival after pencil beam scanning proton therapy for intracranial meningiomas at a single institution. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety-six patients (male/female, 29/67; median age 52.8 years) with intracranial meningiomas (World Health Organization [WHO] grade 1, n=61 [63.5%]; WHO grade 2, n=33 [34.4%]; WHO grade 3, n=2 [2.1%]) were treated with pencil beam scanning proton therapy (n=53 [55.2%] at diagnosis, n=17 [17.7%] at recurrence, and n=26 [27.1%] for tumor progression). Median gross tumor volume before PBSPT was 21.4 cm3 (range, 0.0-546.5 cm3), with a median planning target volume of 123.4 cm3 (range, 4.6-1142.0 cm3). Median duration of follow-up was 56.9 months (range, 12.1-207.2 months). Late toxicity was graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. RESULTS: Thirteen failures (14%) (male/female, 6/7) were observed, of which the majority (n=9, 69%) were of non-benign histology. The 5-year actuarial local control and overall survival were 86.4% and 88.2%, respectively. Five-year grade ≥3 toxicity-free survival was 89.1%. On univariate analysis, local control was worse for patients with higher WHO grade (P≤.001), those treated after at least 1 recurrence (P=.006), those with non-skull base tumor location (P=.014), and males (P=.032). Significant prognosticators for 5-year overall survival were local control (P≤.001), age (P=.002), and timing of proton therapy (initial vs recurrence) (P=.002). CONCLUSIONS: Pencil beam scanning proton therapy is an effective and safe treatment for patients with intracranial meningiomas, resulting in high local control rates with limited toxicity. Up-front radiation likely results in improved outcomes and should be considered, especially for patients with non-benign tumors and/or for those with incomplete resections.