Sestre Milosrdnice University hospital and Institute of Clinical Medical Research
Abstract
Splenic irradiation has long been known as a palliative treatment modality in patients with various malignant hematologic diseases aiming to ameliorate clinical symptoms of splenomegaly as well as clinical sequels of hypersplenism. It provides considerable effect with low toxicity although exact radiotherapy dose and fractionation schedule are not known. During the 1996-2010 period, eleven patients were treated at our institution with splenic irradiation. They received 16 courses of fractionated radiotherapy. There were six patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, four with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and one patient with myelofibrosis. The median of the dose received was 7 Gy, while the median of dose received per fraction was 1 Gy. Both parallel opposed anterior-posterior fields and tangential fields were used. Due to the clinical target volume shrinkage, the treatment field was reduced in 44% of courses. Of the courses initiated for symptom control, 71% resulted in effective palliation, whereas of the courses started to treat hematologic sequels of hypersplenism 50% produced desirable effects. The most common side effects included thrombocytopenia and anemia. Splenic irradiation provides effective and low-toxic palliation of symptoms but it is much less successful in treating hematologic disorders caused by hypersplenism.Ozračivanje slezene je najstariji poznati način palijativnog liječenja bolesnika s različitim zloćudnim hematološkim bolestima. Ima za cilj umanjiti kliničke simptome splenomegalije, kao i posljedice hipersplenizma. Ozračivanje slezene ima značajan učinak uz nisku toksičnost, ali točna radioterapijska doza kao i način frakcioniranja nisu poznati. Između 1996. i 2010. godine 11 bolesnika je liječeno u našoj ustanovi ovim postupkom. Ti bolesnici su primili ukupno 16 aplikacija frakcioniranog zračenja. Šest bolesnika je imalo ne-Hodgkinov limfom, četiri kroničnu limfatičnu leukemiju, a jedan bolesnik je imao mijelofibrozu. Medijan aplicirane tumorske doze bio je 7 Gy, a medijan aplicirane doze po frakciji 1 Gy. Korištena su nasuprotna paralelna te tangencijska radioterapijska polja. Zbog smanjenja kliničkog ciljnog volumena terapijsko polje je tijekom postupka radioterapije smanjeno u 44% radioterapijskih aplikacija. Od radioterapijskih postupaka započetih s ciljem kontrole simptoma 71% ih je rezultiralo uspješnom palijacijom, dok je od postupaka koji su započeti radi popravka hematoloških posljedica hipersplenizma njih 50% izazvalo željeni učinak. Najčešće nuspojave bile su trombocitopenija i anemija. Ozračivanje slezene omogućuje učinkovitu i nisko toksičnu palijaciju simptoma, ali je manje uspješno u liječenju hematoloških poremećaja uzrokovanih hipersplenizmom
