PURPOSE: The aim of this pilot study was to assess the clinical benefit of proton beam therapy for mucosal melanoma of the head and neck. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients with mucosal melanoma of the head and neck with histologically confirmed malignant melanoma and N0 and M0 disease were enrolled. Proton therapy was delivered three times per week with a planned total dose of 60 Gy equivalents (GyE) in 15 fractions. RESULTS: Fourteen consecutive patients were enrolled from January 2004 through February 2008. Patient characteristics were as follows: median age 73 years old (range, 56 to 79 years); male/female ratio, 7/7; and T stage 1/2/3/4, 3/2/0/9. All patients were able to receive the full dose of proton therapy. The most common acute toxicities were mucositis (grade 3, 21%) and mild dermatitis (grade 3, 0%). As for late toxicity, 2 patients had a unilateral decrease in visual acuity, although blindness did not occur. No treatment-related deaths occurred throughout the study. Initial local control rate was 85.7%, and, with a median follow-up period of 36.7 months, median progression-free survival was 25.1 months, and 3-year overall survival rates were 58.0%. The most frequent site of first failure was cervical lymph nodes (6 patients), followed by local failure in 1 patient and lung metastases in 1 patient. On follow-up, 5 patients died of disease, 4 died due to cachexia caused by distant metastases, and 1 patient by carotid artery perforation cause by lymph nodes metastases. CONCLUSIONS: Proton beam radiotherapy showed promising local control benefits and would benefit from ongoing clinical study.
PURPOSE: The aim of this pilot study was to assess the clinical benefit of proton beam therapy for mucosal melanoma of the head and neck. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients with mucosal melanoma of the head and neck with histologically confirmed malignant melanoma and N0 and M0 disease were enrolled. Proton therapy was delivered three times per week with a planned total dose of 60 Gy equivalents (GyE) in 15 fractions. RESULTS: Fourteen consecutive patients were enrolled from January 2004 through February 2008. Patient characteristics were as follows: median age 73 years old (range, 56 to 79 years); male/female ratio, 7/7; and T stage 1/2/3/4, 3/2/0/9. All patients were able to receive the full dose of proton therapy. The most common acute toxicities were mucositis (grade 3, 21%) and mild dermatitis (grade 3, 0%). As for late toxicity, 2 patients had a unilateral decrease in visual acuity, although blindness did not occur. No treatment-related deaths occurred throughout the study. Initial local control rate was 85.7%, and, with a median follow-up period of 36.7 months, median progression-free survival was 25.1 months, and 3-year overall survival rates were 58.0%. The most frequent site of first failure was cervical lymph nodes (6 patients), followed by local failure in 1 patient and lung metastases in 1 patient. On follow-up, 5 patients died of disease, 4 died due to cachexia caused by distant metastases, and 1 patient by carotid artery perforation cause by lymph nodes metastases. CONCLUSIONS: Proton beam radiotherapy showed promising local control benefits and would benefit from ongoing clinical study.
Authors: David G Pfister; Sharon Spencer; David M Brizel; Barbara Burtness; Paul M Busse; Jimmy J Caudell; Anthony J Cmelak; A Dimitrios Colevas; Frank Dunphy; David W Eisele; Robert L Foote; Jill Gilbert; Maura L Gillison; Robert I Haddad; Bruce H Haughey; Wesley L Hicks; Ying J Hitchcock; Antonio Jimeno; Merrill S Kies; William M Lydiatt; Ellie Maghami; Thomas McCaffrey; Loren K Mell; Bharat B Mittal; Harlan A Pinto; John A Ridge; Cristina P Rodriguez; Sandeep Samant; Jatin P Shah; Randal S Weber; Gregory T Wolf; Frank Worden; Sue S Yom; Nicole McMillian; Miranda Hughes Journal: J Natl Compr Canc Netw Date: 2015-07 Impact factor: 11.908
Authors: Julia Thierauf; Johannes A Veit; Jochen K Lennerz; Stephanie E Weissinger; Annette Affolter; Johannes Döscher; Christoph Bergmann; Andreas Knopf; Jennifer Grünow; Lisa Grünmüller; Cornelia Mauch; Peter K Plinkert; Thomas K Hoffmann; Jochen Hess Journal: Head Neck Pathol Date: 2016-11-14
Authors: Y Demizu; O Fujii; K Terashima; M Mima; N Hashimoto; Y Niwa; T Akagi; T Daimon; M Murakami; N Fuwa Journal: Strahlenther Onkol Date: 2013-12-22 Impact factor: 3.621
Authors: Alexandra D Jensen; Anna V Nikoghosyan; Swantje Ecker; Malte Ellerbrock; Jürgen Debus; Marc W Münter Journal: Radiat Oncol Date: 2011-04-05 Impact factor: 3.481