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Radiation-induced injury, a body dysfunction caused by irradiation, is associated with the dose, duration, and speed of radiation and is predominantly derived from radiation therapy for patients with malignant tumors. The current clinical treatment mainly includes amelioration of injury, alleviation of symptoms, and improvements in function restoration of the affected sites because of lack of targeted agents specific to radiation-induced injuries. Research and development of preventive and therapeutic agents against radiation-induced injuries are of great significance to reduce the body damages caused by radiotherapy and improve the quality of life of cancer survivors. This review summarizes the radiation-induced injury and its mechanisms, radioprotectants, and therapeutic agents for radiation, and proposes future development directions, so as to provide a reference for alleviation of radiation-induced injury and improvement in prognosis.
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Head and neck tumors often have complex anatomical structures and are adjacent to important organs. Radiation injury caused by conventional radiotherapy technology is the main dose-limiting factor. Carbon ion beam has become the most ideal radiation to replace photon due to its excellent relative biological effect and Bragg peak. By 2019, 32 000 people worldwide have received carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT). Despite the efficient tumor killing ability of this technology, radiation injury cannot be avoided. This article reviews the types and incidence of moderate to severe radiation injury caused by CIRT in head and neck cancer to provide a comprehensive understanding of the potential risks in CIRT.
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Recently,the relationship between intestinal flora and its metabolites and tumorigenesis,inflammatory bowel diseasesas well as radiation-induced intestinal injury has captivated widespread attention from researchers.Accumulated evidence derived from nuclear accident investigation,animal model experiment and clinical research has proven the role of intestinal flora and its metabolites as the biomarkers to evaluate the radiation dose and severity of radiation-induced intestinal injury.This article reviews the relationship between intestinal flora and its metabolites and radiation-induced intestinal injury,aiming to provide theoretical reference for assessing the risk of radiation-induced intestinal injury.
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Objective To retrospectively analyze the safety of anti-radiation injury drug of Andorin using real-world big data.Methods A total of 87 053 hospitalized cancer patients receiving radiotherapy from 2015 to 2017 were analyzed.Ten medical institutions with the largest number of patients treated with Andorin capsules were screened.Patients with 5 types of cancer including lung cancer,cervical cancer,nasopharyngeal carcinoma,breast cancer and colorectal cancer with/without use of Andorin capsule were subject to propensity score matching (PSM).The safety of Andorin capsule as an adjuvant drug in the radiotherapy for cancer patients was evaluated by the results of blood biochemical detection and liver and kidney function test.Results In the relevant indexes of liver function,the AST and TBIL levels in the lung cancer patients with use of Andorin capsule were significantly lower than those in their counterparts without use of Andorin capsule (22.1 U/L vs.24.7 U/L,P =0.04 and 9.8 mmol/L vs.11.4 μmol/L,P =0.01),but all the results were within the normal range.In patients with cervical cancer,the ALT level in patients treated with Andorin capsule was considerably higher than that in those without use of Andorin capsule (24.7 U/L vs.21.1 U/L,P=0.01) and both the results were within the normal range.In terms of the renal function-related indexes,CRE and UREA were similar between patients with and without use of Andorin capsule in 5 types of tumors (P=0.09-0.86).In patients with cervical and colorectal cancer,the LDH in patients with Andorin capsule was significantly lower compared with that in those without use of Andorin capsule (P=0.04,0.00),but both the resuhs were within the normal range.Regarding the nutrition-related indexes,the TB level in breast cancer patients with use of Andorin capsule was significantly higher than that in those without use of Andorin capsule (69.4 g/L vs.67.1 g/L,P=0.030),but both the results were within the normal range.Conclusion As the first anti-radiation traditional Chinese medicine in China,Andorin capsule is utilized as an adjuvant drug for radiotherapy,which yields no significant liver and kidney toxicity and possesses high safety.
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Radiotherapy is an important treatment of cervical cancer,the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer mainly depends on external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy.However,in the process of the cervical cancer radiotherapy,the vagina has an ambivalent role in the treatment of cervical cancer,being as well a target organ (upper vagina) as an organ at risk.Vaginal radiation-induced injury will appear when it received high doses of radiation.And sexual dysfunction caused by radiation-induced injury has become an important problem cervical cancer survivor.In this article,recent vaginal dose and vaginal radiation injury-related studies have been summarized to unravel the pathophysiological changes,clinical symptoms,clinical diagnosis and treatment of vaginal radiation-induced injury.
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Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of the hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy in the treatment of recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Clinical data of 153 patients with recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma admitted to our hospital from 2008 to 2013 undergoing hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3 Gy for each time,5 times a week,a total dose of 51-60 Gy,17-20 times/4 weeks) were retrospectively analyzed.The short-and long-term radiation-induced injury,Karnofsky performance score (KPS),short-and long-term clinical efficacy were evaluated.Results For the short-term radiation-induced injury,the incidence of oral mucosa and fatigue significantly differed before and after treatment (both P＜0.05).Regarding the long-term radiation-induced injury,the incidence of dry mouth (95.4％) and deafness (51.0％),difficulty in opening mouth (79.1％),maxillofacial fibrosis (33.3％) and radiation-induced encephalopathy (15.0％) significantly differed before and following treatment (all P＜ 0.05).The actual long-term radiation-induced injury included dry mouth (91.5％),deafness (50.9％),difficulty in opening mouth (76.5％),maxillofacial fibrosis (32.0％) and radiation-induced encephalopathy (14.4％).The number of patients with changes in the KPS scores significantly differed between the end of treatment and 3 months after treatment (P＜0.05).The local control rates were 29.4％,68.6％,79.1％,83.7％ and 86.9％ at 1-,3-,6-,9-and 12-month after corresponding treatment,respectively.The local control rate significantly differed between 1 and 3 months,and between 3 and 6 months after treatment (both P＜0.05).The 1-,2-,3-,4-and 5-year survival rates were calculated as 96.1％,80.4％,68.5％,57.9％ and 51.1％,respectively.Conclusions Hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is an efficacious and safe treatment of recurrent nasopharyngeal nasopharyngeal carcinoma,which yields relatively high short-and long-term clinical efficacy,high local control rate and well tolerance by the patients.
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Objective To analyse the memory function and MRI changes in local-advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients before-and after-radiation.Methods Clinical data,dosimetric data,digital span score and MRI of 14 cases with nasopharyngeal carcinom treated in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from November 2015 to August 2016 were retrospectively analysed.There were 1 case at T2 stage,7 cases at T3 and 6 at T4.They received IMRT or TOMO therapy concurrent with 2 cycles Nedaplatin after 2-3 cycles PF/TP induction chemotherapy.Results The IMRT dosimetric data of 9 cases were available.For hippocampus and temporal lobe,the mean volume was (15.17 ± 2.17) and (95.07 ± 12.26) cm3,respectively,while the mean dose was (1 154.06 ±771.63) and (1 306.61 ±603.69) Gy,and the max dose (3 797.61 ± 1 450.98) and (5 394.17 ± 982.28) Gy,respectively.The equivalent uniform dose (EUD) was (2 233.28 ±872.73) Gy for hippocampus and (3 113.11 ±603.69) Gy for temporal lobe.10 patients received digit span score before-and 3 months after-radiotherapy.The mean score of forward digit span was 8.8 ± 1.8 before radiation and 8.1 ± 1.59 at 3 months after radiation(P ＞ 0.05),while thatof backward digit span decreased from 6.2 ± 1.04 before radiation to 5.3 ± 2.36 at 3 months after radiation (t =3.25,P ＜ 0.05).9 patients' MRI were available.Volume reduction of temporal lobe was observed (t =4.57,P ＜ 0.01) by voxel-based morphometry (VBM).Conclusions Radiation-induced injury to hippocampus and temporal lobe is inevitable in local-advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.There might be some connection between memory loss and temporal lobe volume atrophy after radiotherapy.Enrollment of larger sample analysis is expected.
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Objective@#To investigate the change trend of late complications of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) after 5-year follow up according to the clinician-and patient-reported outcomes.@*Methods@#From 2014 to 2015, NPC patients surviving> 5 years after radical IMRT at our outpatients department and were followed up 3 years later. The late complications were evaluated by the clinician based upon the CTCAE 4.0 rating criteria and assessed by patients themselves into 5 grades including very good, good, fair, poor and very poor.@*Results@#A total of 116 NPC patients were included in the first survey with a median follow-up time of 6.5 years (range, 5.0-11.3 years). During the second survey, 21 patients were lost to follow-up, 7 patients developed nasopharyngeal recurrence or metastases, 7 patients had second primary tumors and 81 patients were eligible for final analysis. In the first survey, the most common clinician-reported ≥grade 2 late complications were subcutaneous fibrosis (n=17, 21.0%) and hearing impairment (n=13, 16.0%). The most frequent patient-reported "poor" and "very poor" late complications included dental caries (n=27, 33.3%), subcutaneous fibrosis (n=17, 21.0%) and hearing impairment (n=12, 14.8%). During the second survey, the most common complications were aggravated or new late complications occurred including hearing impairment (n=16, 20.0%), dental caries (n=16, 20.0%) and posterior cranial neuropathy (n=9, 11.0%).@*Conclusions@#The incidence of late complications is high after radical IMRT for NPC. During the long-term survival, subcutaneous fibrosis and hearing impairment are the main late complications. The incidence of hearing impairment, dental caries and posterior cranial neuropathy is increased over time. The symptoms of hearing impairment and dental caries are aggravated in partial patients.
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Objective@#To investigate the effect of irradiation to anastomosis from preoperative radiotherapy for patients with rectal cancer by studying the pathological changes.@*Methods@#In this retrospective study, patients enrolled in the FOWARC study from January 2011 to July 2014 in the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University were included. In the FOWARC study, enrolled patients with local advanced rectal cancer were randomly assigned to receive either neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Among these patients, 23 patients were selected as radiation proctitis (RP)group, who fulfilled these conditions: (1) received neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy followed by sphincter-preserving surgery; (2) developed radiation proctitis as confirmed by preoperative imaging diagnosis; (3) had intact clinical samples of surgical margins. Twenty-three patients who had received neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy but without development of radiation proctitis were selected as non-radiation proctitis (nRP) group. Meanwhile, 23 patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy only were selected as neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT) group. Both nRP and CT cases were selected by ensuring the basic characteristics such as sex, age, tumor site, lengths of proximal margin and distal margin all maximally matched to the RP group. Both proximal and distal margins were collected for further analysis for all selected cases. Microscopy slices were prepared for hematoxylin & eosin staining and Masson staining to show general pathological changes, and also for immunohistochemistry with anti-CD-34 as primary antibody to reveal the microvessel. Microvessel counting in submucosal layer and proportion of macrovessel with stenosis were used to evaluate the blood supply of the proximal and distal end of anastomosis. A modified semi-quantitative grading approach was used to evaluate the severity of radiation-induced injury. Either ANOVA analysis, Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test or χ2 test was used for comparison among three groups, and Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison between two groups.@*Results@#Compared to group of neoadjuvant chemotherapy only, patients receiving neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy had lower microvessel count in both proximal and distal margins (M(QR): proximal, 25.5 (19.6) vs. 50.0 (25.0), Z=3.915, P=0.000; distal, 20.5 (17.5) vs. 49.0 (28.0), Z=3.558, P=0.000), higher proportions of macrovessel with stenosis (proximal, 9.5% (23.8%) vs. 0, Z=3.993, P=0.000; distal, 11.5%(37.3%) vs. 0 (2.0%), Z=2.893, P=0.004), higher histopathologic score (proximal, 4.0 (2.0) vs. 1.0 (2.0), Z=6.123, P=0.000; distal, 5.0 (3.0) vs. 2.0 (1.0), Z=4.849, P=0.000). In patients receiving neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy, compared to nRP group, RP group had lower microvessel count in both proximal and distal margins (proximal, 19.0 (23.0) vs. 30.4 (38.0), Z=2.845, P=0.004; distal, 19.0 (13.0) vs. 30.0(29.1), Z=2.022, P=0.043), higher proportions of macrovessel with stenosis (proximal, 23.0% (40.0%) vs. 0(11.0%), Z=3.248, P=0.001; distal, 27.0% (45.0%) vs. 3.0% (19.0%), Z=2.164, P=0.030). Rate of anastomotic leakage for CT, nRP and RP group were 8.7% (2/23), 30.4% (7/23), and 52.2% (12/23), and the differences among three groups were statistically significant (χ2=10.268, P=0.007).@*Conclusion@#Radiation-induced injury existed on both margins of the resected rectal site after preoperative radiotherapy, and those diagnosed as radiation proctitis had more severe microvascular injury.
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Objective To analyze the influencing factors with radiation induced injury of nonsmall cell lung cancer(NSCLC)treated by three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy,in order to supply he reference criteria for optimize the treatment planning of NSCLC, further to improve the local control rate and quality of life of NSCLC patitents.Method From Aug 2000 to Dec 2004,107 NSCLC patients received three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy were enrolled in this study.In all the patients,48 patients accepted three dimensional conformal radiotherapy(3D-CRT),the other 59 patients accepted conventional radiotherapy(CRT)before later-course of 3D-CRT.All of the patients received the prescription dose between 60-78 Gy and the median dose 66 Gy.Results In the 107 patients,the rate of radiation induced injury was 62.6%.and the rate of≥2 grade was 38.3%.23 cases were classified in grade 2,14 cases in grade 3,4 cases in grade 4.Univariate analysis showed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,number of beams field,lung mean dose,lung V5-V40 were important influencing factors on radiation induced injury.Further more,lung mean dose,lung V20 and chronic obstructive lung disease were likely to be the independent factors of radiation induced injury by Logistic model.Conclusions lung mean dose,chronic obstructive lung disease and lung V20 were the independent influencing factors on irradiated induced injury.