ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5679

RTT - Patient experience and quality of life

ESTRO 2024

Proton beam therapy (PBT) can benefit selected head and neck cancer (HNC) patients because the physical properties of protons allow a potential reduction in normal tissue dose and subsequent late toxicity (1).

Although the complexity of HNC acute side-effects following radiotherapy is well documented (2), very little is known about the acute side-effects for HNC during PBT. The aim of this work is to report on the acute side-effects for HNC PBT from our institution.

Material/Methods:

All acute side-effects data was collected prospectively in bi-weekly clinics throughout PBT treatment. The predominant clinical symptoms assessed were analgesic requirement, nausea, vomiting, bowel impact, oral cavity toxicity and oedema. Side-effects were graded numerically using CTCAE 5.0 and RTOG scales. The data was collated retrospectively in Microsoft Excel© and descriptive statistics was carried out, followed by correlation tests between variables using chi2 (statistical significance p-value<0.05).

Results:

Seventeen patients were included in this study. Graph 1 details acute side-effects during the last week of treatment. Grade 2 oral cavity toxicity and Grade 2 skin dermatitis was observed in 44% and 93% respectively and 44% of the patients had grade 4 analgesic requirement. Our results also demonstrate that there was no significant difference between the incidence of toxicity (p=0.5) and age or tumour location (P=0.3). A difference was observed in the development of toxicities and gender (p=0.03), suggesting that males tend to have a higher incidence of acute side-effects, however analysis did not take in account the size of the tumour, which could be a reason for this difference.

Conclusion:

Results demonstrate that PBT is safe to treat HNC with a low incidence of severe, acute side-effects. Understanding the likelihood and severity of these side effects allows us to better inform and provide supportive medications to these patients at the right time. These are one-year, single-centre results and we acknowledge the small sample size. Future work includes reporting on larger sample sizes and late toxicities.