A PROSPECTIVE RANDOMISED COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TWO PALLIATIVE RADIOTHERAPY REGIMENS IN ADVANCED SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA OF HEAD AND NECK REGION

Dr. Dhananjay Mandal; Dr. Rajat Bandyopadhyay

Volume : IX, Issue : XII, December - 2019

A PROSPECTIVE RANDOMISED COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TWO PALLIATIVE RADIOTHERAPY REGIMENS IN ADVANCED SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA OF HEAD AND NECK REGION

Dr. Dhananjay Mandal, Dr. Rajat Bandyopadhyay

Abstract :

This single–institutional prospective study was initiated to compare two common Palliative Radiotherapy regimes in terms of symptom relief and disease control with acceptable toxicities. 64 patients were recruited for the study after institutional ethical committee clearance and informed consent. Patients were divided into ARM A (External Beam Radiotherapy 30Gy in 10 fractions over 2 weeks) and ARM B (EBRT 20Gy in 5 fractions over 1 week). 61 patients 30 in ARM A and 31 in ARM B were evaluable for analysis. The two groups were comparable in terms of age and sex distribution, performance status, stage, primary site and histological grade. Results showed that both the Hypofractionated Radiotherapy regimens are equally effective palliative tools for controlling symptomatic disease in patients with advanced head and neck cancers with acceptable toxicities. The shorter Palliative regimen of 20 Gray in 5 fractions is an acceptable alternative in resource constrained Department like ours.