Single-Dose Radiotherapy for Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma Patients

A new study indicates patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) could benefit from single-dose radiation therapy (RT) over multifractionated RT.

Tarita O. Thomas, MD, PhD, from Northwestern University’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chicago, and colleagues carried out a retrospective analysis of 58 CTCL patients (35 men, 23 women) with refractory disease.

Patients ranged in age from 24 to 97 years old. In terms of specific diagnoses, the breakdown was as follows:

• Mycosis fungoides (MF) = 47
• MF and lymphomatoid papulosis = 4
• Cutaneous gamma/delta T-cell lymphoma = 3
• Sézary syndrome = 2
• MF and Sézary syndrome = 1
• Small/medium-sized pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma

These 58 patients presented with a total of 270 lesions. According to their charts, these patients received a single fraction of palliative radiation by the same radiation oncologist. The results were as follows:

• Complete response (considered a 100 percent reduction in lesion size) = 255
• Partial response (considered a greater than 50 percent but less than 100 percent reduction in lesion size) = 10
• No response (considered a reduction in lesion size of less than 50 percent) = 1

Investigators concluded that the single dose not only proved effective but also saved patients time, money and the inconvenience of making repeated trips. They stressed the need for additional studies both to confirm these findings and to determine the optimal radiotherapy regimen for patients with CTCL.

Their findings have been published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics.

Source: Clinical Oncology