Prospective study of radiation related adverse events and its management in cancer patient at tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Radiation therapy is associated with certain adverse events which may cause significant discomfort to patient and may affect patient’s life. The objective of the study was to assess radiation related adverse events in the patients who are on radiation therapy and to prevent and manage these adverse events.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on 193 patients receiving radiotherapy in Oncology Department at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab. One fraction (2 Gray) dose had been given to patients daily for five days in a week and monitor. The collected data was analyzed by applying IBM SPSS v21.Results: The clinical results observed in 193 consecutive patients with follow-up of 7 weeks and graded according to RTOG Acute Radiation Morbidity Scoring Criteria. Majority of events were reported in age group of 41-60 years followed by 61-80 years, 20-40 years. Epidermal, mucosal, Genitourinary and Lower G.I. reactions are graded. The reactions managed by providing symptomatic treatment.Conclusions: Radiation related adverse events have been found frequently in patients with radiotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy both. As the number of doses increase with time the grade of reactions also increases. Appropriate follow-up and management of these events reduces patient burden of treatment

Prospective study of radiation related adverse events and its management in cancer patient at tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Radiation therapy is associated with certain adverse events which may cause significant discomfort to patient and may affect patient’s life. The objective of the study was to assess radiation related adverse events in the patients who are on radiation therapy and to prevent and manage these adverse events.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on 193 patients receiving radiotherapy in Oncology Department at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab. One fraction (2 Gray) dose had been given to patients daily for five days in a week and monitor. The collected data was analyzed by applying IBM SPSS v21.Results: The clinical results observed in 193 consecutive patients with follow-up of 7 weeks and graded according to RTOG Acute Radiation Morbidity Scoring Criteria. Majority of events were reported in age group of 41-60 years followed by 61-80 years, 20-40 years. Epidermal, mucosal, Genitourinary and Lower G.I. reactions are graded. The reactions managed by providing symptomatic treatment.Conclusions: Radiation related adverse events have been found frequently in patients with radiotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy both. As the number of doses increase with time the grade of reactions also increases. Appropriate follow-up and management of these events reduces patient burden of treatment

Dosimetric comparison of different dose calculation algorithms in postmastectomy breast cancer patients using conformal planning techniques

Background: The aim of the current study was to compare three different dose-calculating algorithms, i.e., superposition (SP), fast SP (FSP), and convolution (CV), for breast cancer patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and field-in-Field forward plan IMRT (FiF-FP-IMRT). Materials and Methods: The current retrospective study involved 100 postmastectomy breast cancer patients who were given radiotherapy using IMRT and FiF-FP-IMRT planning techniques. All the initially SP-calculated plans were recalculated with the same monitor units for FSP and CV algorithm without change in any of the other planning parameters. The isodose distribution and various plan evaluating parameters, for example, conformity index (CI), homogeneity index, and uniformity index target volume and normal structure doses were compared and analyzed for all the different algorithm calculated plans. Results: In the IMRT plans, all the target and normal structure dose-volume parameters showed a significant difference between all the three different algorithms with P < 0.05. In the FiF-FP-IMRT plans, CV algorithm showed a significant difference in most of the target and normal structure dose-volume parameters. Among quality indexes, only CI showed a significant difference between all the algorithms in both the planning techniques. R50 showed a significant difference with the CV algorithm in both the planning techniques. Conclusion: The change in the dose calculation algorithm resulted in dosimetric changes which must be evaluated by the medical physicists and oncologists while evaluating treatment plans. In the current study with breast patients, the results obtained for target and normal structure doses using the CV algorithm are overestimated as compared to SP and FSP algorithms, producing variable results in air and bony normal structures. However, the ipsilateral lung V5 parameter and the ipsilateral humeral head mean dose were found to be underestimated by the CV algorithm as compared to the SP and FSP algorithm in both the planning techniques