Effectiveness and tolerability of radiotherapy for patients with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: a monocenter analysis

Abstract

To analyze the effectiveness and toxicities of radiotherapy in indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (iNHL) patients treated in our institution. Patients with iNHL treated with radiotherapy between 1999 and 2016 were included. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints were local control (LC), overall survival (OS) and toxicities. PFS, LC, and OS were analyzed using Kaplan–Meier method. Log-rank test was used to investigate the differences between subgroups. Cox proportional hazard model was used for univariate continuous analysis. Seventy-five patients were identified in our institutional database between 1999 and 2016. Fifty-eight (77.3%) had stage I after Ann-Arbor and 17 patients (22.7%) had stage II. The median follow-up was 87 months (95% CI 72–102 months). Median single dose per fraction was 2.0 Gy (range 1.5–2 Gy) and median total dose was 30.6 Gy (range 16–45 Gy). Radiotherapy was performed in 2D (n = 10; 13.3%), 3D (n = 63; 84.0%) and VMAT (n = 2; 2.7%) techniques, respectively. The median PFS was 14.0 years (95% CI 8.3–19.7 years). The estimated PFS after 5 and 10 years were 73.0% and 65.5% in Kaplan–Meier analysis, respectively. The 5- and 10-year LC were 94.9% and 92.3%, respectively. The 5- and 10-year OS were 88.6% and 73.9%. In univariate analyses of PFS, younger patients (≤ 60 years old) had significantly superior PFS to those older than 60 years old (5-year PFS 81.9% vs. 65.1%, p = 0.021). Dose escalation > 36.0 Gy had no prognostic influence in term of PFS (p = 0.425). Extranodal involvement, stage and histology had no prognostic impact on PFS. Depending on the site of lymphomas, the most common acute side effects were: dermatitis CTCAE° I–II (8.0%), xerostomia CTC° I (8.0%), cataract CTC° I (12.0%) and dry eyes CTC° I–II (14.6%). No adverse event CTC° III was reported. Most acute side effects recovered at 3 to 6 months after radiotherapy except for CTC° I cataract and xerostomia. Local Radiotherapy was highly effective for treatment of early stage iNHL with no serious side effects in our cohort. The most acute CTCAE° I–II side effects recovered 3 to 6 months later. Technique advances seem to have further improved effectiveness and tolerability of radiotherapy. Trial registration: Local ethics committee of Ludwig-Maximilian-University (LMU) Munich approved this retrospective analysis on the May 7th, 2019 (Nr. 19–137).