Treatment modifications in cancer patients

Accelerating radiotherapy treatment in patients with head and neck cancer improves their quality of life and odds of beating the disease. Head and neck cancers account for about three to four percent of all cancers in industrial countries and affects more men than women. They are most common in people over 50 years old. Eighty-five percent of head and neck cancers are linked to tobacco. Drinking alcohol is also an important risk factor and combining both increases the risk. In findings that could change how standard radiotherapy is given, scientists found that by making a small modification in radiotherapy there was a significant improvement in the outcome. In the world's largest trial in accelerated radiotherapy for head and neck patients, scientists at the Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark compared the results of patients who had either five or six radiotherapy sessions each week for several weeks. They did a multicentre, controlled, randomised trial between 1992 and 1999 of 1485 patients treated with primary radiotherapy alone; 1476 eligible patients were randomly assigned five or six fractions per week. They found that increasing radiotherapy sessions from five to six times a week made a difference. Seventy percent of patients in the six-times a week group had a reduction in their tumour, compared to 60 percent who had the less frequent treatment. There were more patients who were cured, did not lose their voice box and more patients who did not die from the disease. The findings of the research are consistent with results from an earlier study of 8,000 patients. Although all patients in the accelerated treatment arm did better, some did better than others, and scientists are currently trying to identify those groups where the benefit is largest.