Hatayama Y, et al. – The efficacy and toxicity of accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy (ahypof–rt) were appraised for central–type small lung tumours. Using a fraction size of 2.5–3 Gy, accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy was highly safe. It seemed to be a more effective treatment option than conventional radiotherapy for patients with central–type small lung tumours.

Methods

• 40 patients with central-type small lung tumours underwent ahypof-rt delivered using 10 MV X-rays and a coplanar 3-field technique, between November 2006 and January 2015.
• With a fraction size of 2.5–3 Gy, the number of fractions ranged from 24 to 28.
• Each patient received a total dose of 69–75 Gy to the isocentre of the planning target volume.
• Kaplan–Meier method was used to calculate cumulative survival and local control rates.

Results

• This study incorporated 27 men and 13 women.
• These patients had a median age of 79 years (range: 60-87 years).
• Furthermore, the tumour stage was T1a in 9 patients, T1b in 17 patients, and T2a in 14 patients, with a median size of 26.5 cm (range: 11–49 cm).
• It was reported that the median follow-up period was 23 months.
• In 3 patients (7.5%), a complete response was achieved, and a partial response, in 17 patients (42.5%).
• In addition, the overall 2-year and 3-year local control rates were 87.3% and 81.8%.
• 78.9% and 66.7% were the 2-year and 3-year overall survival rates.
• Results revealed grade 3 pneumonitis in 3 patients.
• This study did not observe other severe adverse events (≥grade 3) in any patient.