Proton beam therapy can provide significantly better disease-free survival and tumor control for patients with head and neck cancer than intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), according to a literature review published online June 27 in Lancet Oncology.
Senior author Robert Foote, MD, and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, and Rochester, MN, compared proton beam therapy and IMRT for treating a variety of advanced head and neck cancers of the skull base.
The systematic review and meta-analysis included studies of nasal cavity and paranasal sinus tumors. The studies involved patients who had no previous treatment and also those who had recurrent disease. The researchers collected data on overall survival, disease-free survival, and tumor control at five years and at the patient's longest follow-up.
Disease-free survival was significantly higher at five years for patients receiving proton therapy (72%) than for patients receiving IMRT (50%), Foote and colleagues found. Tumor control did not differ between treatment groups at five years, but it was greater for patients receiving proton therapy (81%) than for IMRT at the longest follow-up (64%).
