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Radiation therapy delivered to the pelvis and area of the vagina was effective in preventing the return of endometrial cancer for certain patients, a new study in Wisconsin has found.
The study found that at three years following delivery of the radiation therapy 97 percent of the patients showed no signs of the disease in the pelvis. Patients were more likely to have a recurrence outside the pelvis. A total of 82 percent of the patients in the study had no evidence of recurrence anywhere in the body.
A total of 43 patients with endometrial cancer, with risk factors that are known to increase risk of recurrence as well as decrease overall survival, were evaluated.
These results were reported by Dr. Ann Dunphy, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine October 23. She is presenting a poster session October 19-23 at the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) in Orlando, FL.
"Our study showed that high dose rate brachytherapy produced excellent results in patients with endometrial cancer who had unfavorable risk factors," she said.
In brachytherapy, a small radioactive wire is placed in the pelvic area to deliver a high dose of highly focused radiation to the endometrial cancer.
The procedure takes only 20 minutes and is done on an outpatient basis. Previously, such radioactive implantation was an inpatient procedure, according to Dr. Dunphy. Another advantage of the radiation implant therapy for endometrial cancer, she said, is that it produces few side effects.
Dr. Dunphy explained that brachytherapy works best for patients whose endometrial cancer is limited to the pelvic area, but it can be effective for patients at higher risk of having the disease spread elsewhere.
She said that it is important to "stage," or evaluate the condition of the patients to determine which are candidates for surgery alone and which might benefit from radiation therapy as a follow-up treatment.
The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with some 4,000 members. As a leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the society's goals are to advance the scientific basis of radiation therapy and to extend the benefits of radiation therapy to those with cancer.
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