Journal of Thai Association of Radiation Oncology

Proton Therapy Machine Quality Assurance: An Institutional Experience

Sornjarod Oonsiri — 2025-03-04

Proton therapy quality assurance (QA) is an important process to ensure that the patient’s treatment is accurate. There are daily, monthly, and annual QAs. This article explored experience and QA tool usage for the QA process: Sphinx Compact for daily QA, Logos system XRV-124 for monthly QA, and MP3-PL combined with PTW Bragg peak chamber type 34070 for annual QA, respectively. It could help to give the idea for the staff, which supports the new facility’s planning in the future.

Radiotherapy in Brain and Head and neck Cancers at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society

Jumnong Kumkhwao — 2025-03-04

Radiation therapy for the brain, head and neck is a common treatment, because brain cancers and head and neck cancers are among most commonly treated with radiation. Moreover, these cancers have a high incidence around the world. There are several critical organs around head and neck region. The developments in radiation therapy technique are used to deliver radiation dose that conform to the tumor while minimizing dose to organs at risk. For the accuracy and precision of the radiation therapy, choosing the appropriate patient immobilization and verifying the position before treatment is needed. Nowadays, developments of patient immobilizations offer improved efficiency. Furthermore, image-guided radiotherapy is required for verifying the patient positioning before treatment.

Treatment outcome of hypofractionated radiotherapy in post mastectomy breast cancer in Ubonratchathani cancer hospital

Woraanong Thiramontre — 2025-03-04

Background: Hypofractionated radiotherapy has been used in breast-conservative surgery. However, information regarding its application in the adjuvant setting after mastectomy in breast cancer patients is still under long-term studies to determine its effectiveness and potential side effects.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of post-mastectomy hypofractionated radiotherapy as regards 5-year locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS), 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and 5-year overall survival (OS) compared with conventional fractionated radiotherapy

Materials & methods: We retrospectively reviewed the record of post-mastectomy breast cancer patients who received complete adjuvant radiotherapy at Ubonratchatani Cancer Hospital between January 2016 and December 2020. Kaplan-Meier and Log-rank test were used for survival analysis. Cox regression was used for univariate and multivariate analysis to identify the prognostic factors. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The median follow-up time was 46.5 months (range 24-61 months). A total of 552 post-mastectomy breast cancer patients who underwent complete adjuvant radiotherapy were included. Among them, 361 patients received conventional fractionated radiotherapy (CFRT) 50 Gy in 25 Fractions while 191 received hypofractionated radiotherapy (HFRT) 40-42.56 Gy in 15-16 fractions. There was no statistical difference between both groups regarding the 5-year LRRFS and 5-year DFS. The 5-year LRRFS rates for CFRT versus HFRT were 87.37 % and 86.60% (p-value = 0.642). The 5-year DFS rates for CFRT versus HFRT were 65.14% and 73.38% (p-value = 0.058). However, the 5-year OS rate was higher in HFRT group than CFRT group; 80.29% and 70.38%, respectively (p=0.015). Tumor stage and triple negative subtype were significant prognostic factors for locoregional recurrence and overall survival.

Conclusion: Post-mastectomy hypofractionated radiotherapy was comparably effective in terms of LRRFS and DFS with reduced overall treatment time and cost.