title: The impact of conventional or hypofractionated radiotherapy on voice quality and oncological outcome in patients with early glottic cancer.
abstract: The hypothesis being tested in this study is that hypofractionated radiotherapy is well tolerated and not lower in terms of oncological outcome than conventional radiotherapy. Forty patients with histologically proven glottic cancer were included in the analysis. Twenty-two were treated by hypofractionated radiotherapy (3D-HFRT) (25 fractions of 2.4 Gy delivered daily to a total dose of 60 Gy). This group was retrospectively compared to 18 subjects who met the same inclusion criteria and who were treated with conventional radiotherapy (3D-CRT) (33 fractions of 2 Gy delivered daily to a total dose of 66 Gy). One year after RT treatment in 10 patients (5 in the arm-1 and 5 in the arm-2) mild dysphonia persisted. The other patients achieved a complete recovery of the overall quality of voice with no significant difference documented between the two groups. At 3 years the local control rate was 100% for the patients treated with hypofractionated radiotherapy and 96% for the patients treated with conventional regimen. The statistical analysis did not show any significant difference in local control between the two groups (p=0.45). No significant acute and late toxicity was documented in both groups. Subjects with early glottic cancer seem to experience comparable levels of morbidity irrespective whether they were treated by hypofractionated or conventional conformal therapy without any worsening of the tumor local control. Thus, we provide clinical evidence to justify trends already emerging toward hypofractionated regimens in early glottic cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, Division of Radiotherapy, Radiobiology Laboratory, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Nicola
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Gravina
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marampon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonfili
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buonopane
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Staso
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Festuccia
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Franzese
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tombolini
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tombolini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005931:Glottis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000528:radiation effects