Mesothelioma at era of helical tomotherapy: Results of two institutions in combining chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy

Purpose There is a scarce clinical experience about adjuvant helical tomotherapy (HT) in patients affected by malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) even though it appears as a useful technique to treat complex volume as the pleural cavity, and seems to have better dose distribution than the “classic” intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Methods and materials Twenty-four patients received adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) by HT from August 1st, 2007 to December 1st, 2009 at Curie Institute (Paris) and Rene Gauducheau Cancer Center (Nantes). Thirteen patients had neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Extrapleural pleuropneumonectomy (EPP) was done in 23 patients. Median dose to PTV was 50 Gy [48.7–55.9 Gy] (2 Gy/fraction). Acute and long term toxicities, disease free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS) and relapses are presented. Results Average follow up after RT was 7 months. The disease was staged mostly as T2–T3, N1–N2. Nineteen patients had epithelial type histology. Most patients tolerated radiotherapy with grade 1–2 side effects: redness of the skin, light cough or dyspnea, fatigue, nausea and odynophagia, mild increase of the post-operative thoracic pain. Grade 3 pneumonitis was suspected in 2 patients. Two grade 5 pneumonitis were also suspected. Eleven patients had a follow up of more than 6 months and no long term side effects related with HT were noted. At 24 months, 51.8% of patients were free of disease. Thirty percent of patients relapsed, with 2 patients presenting local relapses. Two patients died from recurrence. Conclusion With limited follow up, HT has comparable toxicity to those observed with traditional IMRT. Higher radiation dose and good coverage results in excellent local control.