Abstract
To review the use of brachytherapy as an adjuvant therapy to reduce recurrences after sublobar resections and as a palliation to patients with inoperable disease. Α review of all published studies was performed to identify the recurrence rate after brachytherapy adjuvant to sublobar resection and assess the palliation of symptoms and the complications of brachytherapy as a palliative treatment. Most of the studies that we found about brachytherapy as an adjuvant therapy to sublobar resection due to patient’s poor cardiopulmonary reserve showed that brachytherapy offered low recurrence rate with low toxicity. Ten studies concerning palliative brachytherapy showed improvement of symptoms with good tolerance and good endoscopic response rates. Literature suggests that brachytherapy for inoperable symptomatic disease can be delivered for symptom improvement with acceptable toxicity. Brachytherapy as an alternative treatment option for lung cancer needs more investigation with more prospective trials.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gunderson LL, Tepper JE. Clinical radiation oncology. 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2012. p. 783.
Halperin EC, Brady LW, Wazer DE, Perez CA. Perez and Brady’s: principles and practice of radiation oncology. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2013. p. 1308.
Fay M, Poole CM, Pratt G. Recent advances in radiotherapy for thoracic tumours. J Thorac Dis. 2013;5(Suppl 5):S551–5.
Santos R, Colonias A, Parda D, Trombetta M, Maley RH, Macherey R, et al. Comparison between sublobar resection and 125Iodine brachytherapy after sublobar resection in high-risk patients with Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer. Surgery. 2003;134(4):691–7.
Landreneau JP, Schuchert MJ, Weyant R, Abbas G, Wizorek JJ, Awais O, et al. Anatomic segmentectomy and brachytherapy mesh implantation for clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Surgery. 2014;155(2):340–6.
Voynov G, Heron DE, Lin CJ, Burton S, Chen A, Quinn A, et al. Intraoperative (125)I Vicryl mesh brachytherapy after sublobar resection for high-risk stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Brachytherapy. 2005;4(4):278–85.
Fernando HC, Landreneau RJ, Mandrekar SJ, Nichols FC, Hillman SL, Heron DE, et al. Impact of brachytherapy on local recurrence rates after sublobar resection: results from ACOSOG Z4032 (Alliance), a phase III randomized trial for high-risk operable non-small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2014;32:2456–62.
Chen A, Galloway M, Landreneau R, d’Amato T, Colonias A, Karlovits S, et al. Intraoperative 125I brachytherapy for high-risk stage I non-small cell lung carcinoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1999;44(5):1057–63.
Colonias A, Betler J, Trombetta M, Bigdeli G, Gayou O, Keenan R, et al. Mature follow-up for high-risk stage I non-small-cell lung carcinoma treated with sublobar resection and intraoperative iodine-125 brachytherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2011;79(1):105–9.
Tselis N, Ferentinos K, Kolotas C, Schirren J, Baltas D, Antonakakis A, et al. Computed tomography-guided interstitial high-dose-rate brachytherapy in the local treatment of primary and secondary intrathoracic malignancies. J Thorac Oncol. 2011;6:545–52.
Huang Q, Chen J, Chen Q, Lai Q, Cai S, Luo K, et al. Computed tomographic-guided iodine-125 interstitial implants for malignant thoracic tumors. Eur J Radiol. 2013;82(11):2061–6.
Zorlu AF, Selek U, Emri S, Gurkaynak M, Akyol FH. Second line palliative endobronchial radiotherapy with HDR Ir 192 in recurrent lung carcinoma. Yonsei Med J. 2008;49(4):620–4.
Escobar-Sacristán JA, Granda-Orive JI, Gutiérrez Jiménez T, Delgado JM, Rodero Baños A, Saez Valls R. Endobronchial brachytherapy in the treatment of malignant lung tumours. Eur Respir J. 2004;24(3):348–52.
Kelly JF, Delclos ME, Morice RC, Huaringa A, Allen PK, Komaki R. High-dose-rate endobronchial brachytherapy effectively palliates symptoms due to airway tumors: the 10-year M. D. Anderson cancer center experience. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2000;48(3):697–702.
Celebioglu B, Gurkan OU, Erdogan S, Savas I, Köse K, Kurtman C, et al. High dose rate endobronchial brachytherapy effectively palliates symptoms due to inoperable lung cancer. Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2002;32(11):443–8.
Macha HN, Wahlers B, Reichle C, von Zwehl D. Endobronchial radiation therapy for obstructing malignancies: ten years’ experience with iridium-192high-dose radiation brachytherapy afterloading technique in 365 patients. Lung. 1995;173(5):271–80.
Guarnaschelli JN, Jose BO. Palliative high-dose-rate endobronchial brachytherapy for recurrent carcinoma: the University of Louisville experience. J Palliat Med. 2010;13(8):981–9.
de Aquino Gorayeb MM, Gregório MG, de Oliveira EQ, Aisen S, Carvalho Hde A. High-dose-rate brachytherapy in symptom palliation due to malignant endobronchial obstruction: a quantitative assessment. Brachytherapy. 2013;12(5):471–8.
Aumont-Le Guilcher M, Prevost B, Sunyach P, Pieffert D, Maingon P, Thomas L, et al. High-dose-rate brachytherapy for non-small-cell lung carcinoma: a retrospective study of 226 patients. Int J Rad Oncol Biol Phys. 2011;79:1112–6.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Politis Georgios head of the Pulmonary Department of Agios Savvas Anticancer Hospital for his kind provision of the photos.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
All authors disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Youroukou, A., Gkiozos, I., Kalaitzi, Z. et al. The potential role of brachytherapy in the irradiation of patients with lung cancer: a systematic review. Clin Transl Oncol 19, 945–950 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-017-1635-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-017-1635-0