Bone and soft-tissue sarcomas

Abstract

A dose-escalation clinical trial was first initiated in 1996 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of carbon ion radiotherapy (C-ion RT) for inoperable bone and soft-tissue sarcomas. The dose-escalation trial and a subsequent fixed-dose trial on patients with non-metastatic sar comas revealed that carbon ion radiotherapy provided good local control and offered a survival advantage with acceptable levels of morbidity. Ninety-five percent of the patients enrolled in the trials had axial sarcomas. The 3- and 5-year local control rates of the entire study population in the fixed-dose trial were 79 and 71%, respectively, with the corresponding 3 and 5-year overall survival rates being 71 and 59%. As of March 2013, over 900 patients were treated with carbon ion radiotherapy for bone and soft-tissue sarcomas in several trials. The most commonly treated sarcoma was sacral chordoma, followed by axial high-grade bone and soft-tissue sarcomas. This chapter deals with C-ion RT for unresectable sarcomas below C2.