Effect of treatment time on outcome of radiotherapy for oral tongue carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the importance of total treatment time on the outcome of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) followed by internal brachytherapy for the treatment of oral tongue carcinoma.


METHODS
Ninety-four patients with T1-T2N0 squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue were treated using 35-40 Gy EBRT followed by 35-40 Gy interstitial (137)Cs brachytherapy between 1985 and 1995. The interval between the end of EBRT and the start of interstitial treatment varied for numerous unavoidable reasons, with a mean of 25.3 days and standard deviation of 3.5 days. The median follow-up period was 59.1 months (range 6-146).


RESULTS
The actuarial survival rate of all cases was 78.4% at 5 years. The 5-year local control rate for those with T1 and T2 was 92.8% and 62.7%, respectively (p < 0.05). The local control rate of the primary tumor in patients with a total treatment time >43 days was statistically lower than that of patients with a total treatment time < or =43 days in all patients (p < 0.05) and in the subgroup of Stage T2 patients (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that the local control rates in all cases were significantly related to the T stage (T2 or not), total treatment time (>43 days or not), and location of disease (posterior or not). Regression analysis for 5-year local control as a function of treatment duration showed a 2% loss of local control per day of treatment extension >30 days (r = 0.94, p < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The total treatment time was associated with the local control rate in the RT of oral tongue carcinoma. The loss in local control was estimated to be 2.0% per additional day in our series for oral tongue carcinoma.
Hosokawa
Yoichiro
Y
Department of Dental Radiology, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Tobetsu, Japan. hosokawa@hoku-iryo-u.ac.jp
Shirato
Hiroki
H
Nishioka
Takashi
T
Tsuchiya
Kazuhiko
K
Chang
Ta-Chen
TC
Kagei
Kenji
K
Ohomori
Keiichi
K
Obinata
Ken-ichi
K
Kaneko
Masayuki
M
Miyasaka
Kazuo
K
Nakamura
Motoyasu
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000379:methods; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome