Winship investigator, Deborah Bruner, RN, PhD, FAAN and colleagues publish study showing women with cervical or endometrial cancer receiving IMRT report significantly less toxicity than those receiving standard radiation therapy.
February 19, 2020
A new NRG Oncology (RTOG 1203) study featuring Winship Cancer Institute investigator and Department of Radiation Oncology adjunct professor, Deborah Bruner, RN, PhD, FAAN, has shown that women with cervical or endometrial cancer receiving intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) reported significantly less gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity and urinary toxicity than those receiving standard four-field radiation therapy (RT).
The study compared patient-reported GI toxicity, urinary toxicity, and health-related quality of life in 278 patients receiving either standard pelvic radiation or IMRT. Over 50% of women receiving standard RT reported frequent or nearly constant diarrhea compared to only 33.7% of patients who received IMRT. In addition, more patients receiving standard RT reported taking antidiarrheal medications four or more times daily.
Bruner, Emory University senior vice president for research and Winship member is a co-author on the study. "Examining the effects of standard radiation therapy and IMRT from the patient perspective is critical to understanding the benefits of more expensive treatments like IMRT," says Bruner. "New RT treatments, like drug therapies, must be tested for cost effectiveness. In this study, IMRT was shown to significantly decrease gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea and urinary problems like urgency and burning as compared to standard RT, while providing similar cure. This data will help physicians better manage symptoms of treatment in cervical and endometrial cancer patients."
Patient-reported GI toxicity from baseline to the end of RT was measured with the bowel domain of the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC); change in GI toxicity was measured with the Patient-Reported Outcome Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events; and quality of life was measured with the Trial Outcome Index.
The results of the study were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, an American Society of Clinical Oncology journal.