Twice-daily high-dose-rate brachytherapy for medically inoperable uterine cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Medically inoperable patients with uterine cancer pose a therapeutic challenge. We developed a twice-daily schedule of high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRB) after a single insertion procedure that required a hospitalization of 3 days.


METHODS
Favorable patients were offered brachytherapy alone, and all other patients received HDRB after pelvic external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). The prescribed dose was 7Gyx5 fractions and 4-5Gyx4-5 fractions for those treated after EBRT. HDRB was delivered with a b.i.d. schedule (4-6-h interval).


RESULTS
Twenty-two patients (21 Stage I, 1 Stage IIB) were deemed medically inoperable. Sixteen patients received EBRT followed by HDRB, and six received HDRB alone. There were no procedural complications or significant acute toxicity. No thromboembolic events occurred within 30 days of the implant.


CONCLUSIONS
This technique allows patients to be treated using a single procedure for insertion, with brief hospitalization for twice-daily HDRB.
Gerszten
Kristina
K
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA. gersztenk@upmc.edu
Faul
Clare
C
Kelley
Joseph
J
Selvaraj
Raj
R
King
Gwendolyn C
GC
Mogus
Robert
R
Heron
Dwight
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001510:Bed Rest; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*