Missing radiation treatment ups the risk of recurrence
Missing two or more radiation therapy session can increase the risk of cancer recurrence in patients, says a new study by Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care (MECCC) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s NCI–designated Albert Einstein Cancer Center.
The study, published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, suggests that this noncompliance to scheduled treatments may represent a new behavioral biomarker for identifying high-risk patients who require additional interventions to achieve optimal care outcomes.
The study evaluated 1,227 patients scheduled for courses of external beam radiation therapy for cancers of the head and neck, breast, lung, cervix uterus or rectum from 2007 to 2012.
The radiation therapy course for noncompliant patients was prolonged for an average of one week compared with compliant patients. Nevertheless, 16 percent of noncompliant patients later experienced a recurrence of their cancers versus only a 7 percent recurrence rate for compliant patients.
“This study shows that the health of our patients can improve only when a course of treatment is completed in the prescribed period of time,” said Madhur Garg, M.D., clinical director, Department of Radiation Oncology, MECCC and professor of clinical radiation oncology at Einstein. “These findings should serve as a wakeup call to physicians, patients and their caregivers about the critical need to adhere to a recommended treatment schedule.”
Prolonging radiation therapy for head and neck cancer or cervical cancer impacted tumor control and overall survival at the greatest rate, at one percent per day, however this negative impact was seen in all cancers studied. This is attributed to tumor repopulation, which can accelerate after treatment initiation.
