High-dose stereotactic radiotherapy boost in the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region

• Published in: Radiation oncology (London, England) Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 103
• Main Authors: Polanowski, Paweł, Pietruszka, Agnieszka, Księżniak-Baran, Dorota, Grządziel, Aleksandra, Chmielik, Ewa, Kentnowski, Marek, Amrogowicz, Natalia, Składowski, Krzysztof, Polanowska, Katarzyna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 03.06.2022; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Biopsy; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; Case Report; Chemoradiotherapy; Disease control; Dose-response relationship (Biochemistry); Head & neck cancer; Head and neck cancer; Head and neck carcinoma; Lymph nodes; Lymphatic system; Malignancy; Management; Medical imaging; Medical prognosis; Metastases; Metastasis; Methods; Oral cancer; Oral carcinoma; Oral cavity; Patients; Radiation therapy; Radiology; Radiosurgery; Radiosurgery boost; Squamous cell carcinoma; Stereotactic radiotherapy; Surgery; Tumors; Ultrasonic imaging; Poland; Head and neck cancer; Squamous cell carcinoma; Radiosurgery boost; Stereotactic radiotherapy
• ISSN: 1748-717X; 1748-717X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13014-022-02069-4

Surgical resection with adjuvant concurrent radiochemotherapy is the standard of care for stage III-IV oral cavity cancer. In some cases, the dynamic course of the disease is out of the prepared schedule of treatment. In that event, a stereotactic radiosurgery boost might be the only chance for disease control. Here, we present a case study of a patient with oral cancer who underwent surgery. During adjuvant radiotherapy, a metastatic cervical lymph node was diagnosed based on fine-needle aspiration biopsy. To increase the total dose to the metastatic tumor, a stereotactic radiosurgery boost of 1 × 18 Gy was performed two days after the last fraction of conventional radiotherapy. The early and late tolerance of this treatment were positive. During the 18-month follow-up, locoregional recurrence was not detected. The patient died due to secondary malignancy. This paper shows that a stereotactic radiosurgery boost added to adjuvant conventional radiotherapy is an effective approach permitting the maintenance of good local control in well-selected patients.