title: Tumor control and normal tissue complications in BNCT treatment of nodular melanoma: a search for predictive quantities.
abstract: A previous work concerning tumor control and skin damage in cutaneous melanoma treatments with BNCT has been extended to include doses, volumes and responses of 104 subcutaneous lesions from all patients treated in Argentina. Acute skin reactions were also scored for these patients, and cumulative dose-area histograms and dose-based figures of merit for skin were calculated. Broadening the tumor response analysis with the latest data showed that the (minimum or mean) tumor dose is not a good predictor of the observed clinical outcome by itself. However, when the tumor volume was included in the model as second explicative variable, the dose increases its significance and becomes a critical variable jointly with the volume (p-values<0.05). A preliminary analysis to estimate control doses for two groups of tumor sizes revealed that for small tumor volumes (< 0.1cm(3)) doses greater than 20 Gy-Eq produce a high tumor control (> 80%). However, when tumor volumes are larger than 0.1cm(3), control is moderate (< 40%) even for minimum doses up to 40 Gy-Eq. Some quantities based on skin doses, areas and complication probabilities were proposed as candidates for predicting the severity of the early skin reactions. With the current data, all the evaluated figures of merit derived similar results: ulceration is present among the cases for which these quantities take the highest values.
authors.affiliation: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Av. del Libertador 8250, (1429) Cdad. de Buenos Aires, Argentina. srgonzal@cnea.gov.ar
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casal
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Santa Cruz
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Carando
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Blaumann
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonomi
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Calzetta Larrieu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Feld
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gossio
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiménez Rebagliatti
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Longhino
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Menéndez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nievas
authors.forename: B M C
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Liberman
mesh_terms: D016754:Boron Neutron Capture Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004890:Erythema / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000209:etiology