Neoplasms

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Breast Neoplasms

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Breast Diseases

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Supine Radiotherapy and Hypofractionation:

Whole breast + regional nodal irradiation in supine position with a median dose of 15 x 2.67 Gy prescribed to the whole breast and nodal regions. Median dose of the simultaneously integrated boost is 3.12 Gy per fraction.

Prone Radiotherapy and Hypofractionation:

Whole breast + regional nodal irradiation in prone position with a 15 x 2.67 Gy dose prescription to the whole breast and nodal regions. Median dose of the simultaneously integrated boost is 3.12 Gy per fraction.

Supine Radiotherapy and Acceleration:

Whole breast + regional nodal irradiation in supine position with a median dose of 5 x 5.7 Gy to the whole breast. Lymph node regions receive a median dose of 5 x 5.4 Gy. Median dose of the simultaneously integrated boost is 6.2 Gy per fraction.

Prone Radiotherapy and Acceleration:

Whole breast + regional nodal irradiation in prone position with a median dose of 5 x 5.7 Gy to the whole breast. Lymph node regions receive a median dose of 5 x 5.4 Gy. Median dose of the simultaneously integrated boost is 6.2 Gy per fraction.

Prone positioning for regional nodal irradiation using the crawl breast couch.

Prone Radiotherapy

Accelerated irradiation in 5 fractions over 12 days with simultaneously integrated boost

Acceleration

Supine positioning for regional nodal irradiation using breastboard.

Supine Radiotherapy

Moderate hypofractionation in 15 fractions over 3 weeks with simultaneously integrated boost

Hypofractionation

Katrien Vandecasteele, MD, PhD

The goal of this trial is to evaluate the effect of the prone crawl treatment position and/or accelerated schedule on acute and late toxicities, as well as quality of life and time management for breast cancer patients receiving whole breast and regional nodal irradiation after breast conserving surgery.

Locoregional radiotherapy after lumpectomy and axillary node dissection diminishes the locoregional recurrence risk at 10 years by 21,2 % in women with pathologically confirmed lymph node involvement.

Excess dose to organs at risk can lead to acute and late side effects, such as tissue damage, organ malfunction and secondary cancers. Radiotherapy in prone position has helped reduce these risks for whole breast radiotherapy only, but has not yet been adequately investigated for patients also requiring regional nodal irradiation. One of the reasons is that there is no optimal patient support device available to allow regional nodal irradiation in prone position. To this end, a novel positioning device was developed at our center, allowing regional nodal irradiation in prone position. It was called the crawl breast couch because the patient position resembles a phase from the crawl swimming technique. A previous planning study by Deseyne et al. using this device shows a benefit (i.e. reduced dose) for the ipsilateral lung, the thyroid, as well as a minor benefit for the right lung, and contralateral breast (which already receive very low relative doses) while maintaining similar target coverage when compared to supine positioning.

Apart from the paradigm shift from supine to prone radiotherapy, in recent years, it has become clear that breast cancer cells are more sensitive to fraction dose than originally presumed. Large randomized trials confirm this hypothesis: moderate hypofractionation schemes in 15 or 16 fractions are at least equivalent in tumor control and toxicity although the total dose is lower than the traditional 50 Gy in 25 fractions. Further acceleration to 5 fractions is expected to have an even larger radiobiological advantage regarding tumor control. Additional advantages are patient comfort and a better use of radiotherapy resources.

This randomized trial with 2 x 2 factorial design tests 2 interventions for patients with breast cancer requiring whole-breast and regional nodal irradiation: radiotherapy in prone position with a specifically designed patient support device called the crawl breast couch, and accelerated radiotherapy in 5 fractions. The standard arm in this trial is supine hypofractionated radiotherapy.

The goal of this trial is to evaluate the effect of the prone crawl treatment position and/or accelerated schedule on acute and late toxicities, as well as quality of life and time management for breast cancer patients receiving whole breast and regional nodal irradiation after breast conserving surgery.

Whole Breast + Lymph Node Irradiation: Prone Compared to Supine Position in 15 or 5 Fractions

Whole Breast (WB) + Lymph Node Irradiation (LNI): Prone Compared to Supine Position in a Randomized Study With 15 or 5 Fractions

Rate of breast retraction or volume loss after radiotherapy

Shoulder range of motion measured by maximal excursion in abduction-adduction and anteversion-retroversion, in degrees from anatomical reference position

Arm circumference measured in cm 15 cm above and below medial epicondyle

Breast pain measured on a scale: 0 (no pain) - 1 (pain on contact) - 2 (pain on contact and also occasionally spontaneous) - 3 (pain on contact and regularly spontaneous) - 4 (pain medication needed and specify which)

Sense of breast heaviness defined as present or absent.

Itching in the breast on a scale: 0 (no itching) - 1 (occasional itching) - 2 (regular itching)

Arm pain measured on a scale: 0 (no pain) - 1 (pain on contact) - 2 (pain on contact and also occasionally spontaneous) - 3 (pain on contact and regularly spontaneous) - 4 (pain medication needed and specify which)

Sense of arm heaviness defined as present or absent.

Pain in the irradiated shoulder as defined on a scale: 0 (no pain) - 1 (occasional pain) - 2 (regular pain)

Impaired shoulder mobility on the irradiated side defined as present or absent

Pain present in any other region than arm, shoulder or breast, defined on a scale: 0 (no pain) - 1 (occasional pain) - 2 (regular pain). Painful locations are indicated on a figure.

Dysphagia measured according to CTCAE v4.03

Dyspnea measured according to CTCAE v4.03

Troponin T value at last treatment session ± 1 day compared with baseline measurement.

breast oedema, telangiectasia, color changes, fibrosis, shoulder symptoms, breast symptoms, arm symptoms, brachial plexopathy, heart toxicity, dyspnea, thyroid function, pain, fatigue.

Photographic image analysis using BCCT.core using frontal images with different arm positions. Reported cosmetic outcome is evaluated with radiotherapy specific items of the Breast Q questionnaire

Supplementing the general quality of life outcome (QLQ-C30) with breast specific questionnaire using the EORTC QLQ-BR23 tool

Time registration from the moment the patient climbs the treatment couch until end of radiation. The first fraction is not measured as unforeseen problems in the workflow, questions or difficulties might delay treatment and falsify the results. The moment the patient mounts the treatment couch as well as the moment she climbs down, will be registered using a remote sensor. The beam on time is automatically registered by the treatment software.

Data extracted from dose-volume histograms (DVHs) and associated DVH planning files. the data are extracted from the developped treatment plan before treatment is initiated. Discrete values will be evaluated for all patients, more precisely the following:

D02 as a surrogate for Dmax, D05, D50, D95, D100, mean dose. All these values are reported in Gray (Gy)

Parameters evaluated for OARs:

- Mean dose, D02, D05, all in Gray

Data extracted from dose-volume histograms (DVHs) and associated DVH planning files. the data are extracted from the developped treatment plan before treatment is initiated.

Volume of the targets and organs at risk is measured in cubic centimeters (cm³). Hot spots are defined as regions receiving either 105 or 107 % of the prescribed dose or more.

Data extracted from dose-volume histograms (DVHs) and associated DVH planning files. the data are extracted from the developped treatment plan before treatment is initiated.

For Organs at risk, a V5, V10, V20, V30 will be calculated. This is the relative volume of a the structure receiving a dose of 5, 10, 20 or 30 Gy. The value is measured as a percentage (%) of the total structure volume.

Cone beam computed tomography verification directly prior to each scheduled radiation treatment session to determine shift between planned positioning and actual positioning. Shifts are performed and registered in laterolateral, craniocaudal and anteroposterior directions. No rotations are performed.

Cost-Utility Analysis (CUA) using the EuroQoL 5D tool.

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