Abstract
Objective: To report on the clinical course of cases in which the 8.5 Gy×2 method was used as a palliative irradiation method at our hospital.
Subjects: There were 21 cases in which irradiation with 8.5 Gy×2 was used at our hospital from June 2004 to March 2006. These included 15 male cases and 6 female cases. The ages of the subjects ranged from 49 to 89 years (median value: 65 years of age). KPS ranged from 50 to 90% (median value: 70%). The disorders (symptoms) included 7 cases of mediastinal lymph node metastasis (respiratory discomfort, coughing, and hemosputum), 4 cases of esophagal cancer (dysphagia), 5 cases of lung tumors (hemosputum and SVC syndrome), 1 case each of bone infiltration by soft tissue tumors in the abdomen and in the extremities (pain), 2 cases of abdominal lymph node metastasis (jaundice and pain), and 1 case of HCC biliary infiltration (jaundice).
Method: 10 MVX was used in all cases. The treatment plan was carried out using CT simulation. Irradiation with 8.5 Gy was used twice. The site attributable to the symptoms was defined as GTV, and the region sufficiently containing GTV was defined as PTV.
Results: In 2 cases, the general condition of the patients worsened prior to the second irradiation, and therefore irradiation was discontinued. A total of 19 cases were treated with irradiation. A temporary improvement of the symptoms was observed in 12 cases. Early-stage adverse events (NCI-CTC ver. 2, grade 2 or higher) included 2 cases of grade 2 esophagitis, and 1 case of grade 2 nausea. Late-stage adverse events could not be evaluated.
Conclusion: A temporary improvement of the symptoms was observed in about half of the cases. There were no grade 3 or higher early-stage adverse events. It is believed that this palliative irradiation method is acceptable if long-term irradiation is impossible.
