Concomitant use of radiotherapy and two topoisomerase inhibitors to treat adult T-cell leukemia with a radiotherapy-resistant bulky disease: a case series.

Concomitant chemoradiotherapy is established as the standard treatment to improve the prognosis of several types of solid tumor, but has not been the general practice for hematological malignancies. Here, I report two cases of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) with a radiotherapy-resistant bulky disease treated with concomitant radiotherapy and two topoisomerase inhibitors: etoposide (VP-16) and irinotecan (CPT-11). Patient 1 was a 78-year-old man with chemotherapy-resistant inguinal bulky mass. Radiotherapy (total 40 Gy) for this inguinal lesion was started; however, the bulky disease was found to be resistant to radiotherapy and progressed. VP-16 and CPT-11 were administered in addition to radiotherapy (after a total of 20 Gy of radiotherapy). Patient 2 was a 71-year-old man with a solitary bulky mass in left cervical lesion. Various previous chemotherapy and radiotherapy approaches had not been able to control the disease. Six months after first radiotherapy, the bulky disease rapidly progressed with the occurrence of pain. Second radiotherapy (30 Gy) was started with simultaneous administration of CPT-11 and VP-16. In both cases, the bulky disease gradually regressed and completely disappeared by the end of radiotherapy. Thus, flexible adaptation of concomitant chemoradiotherapy including two topoisomerase inhibitors may offer a potential therapeutic option for radiotherapy-resistant bulky diseases, even in hematological malignancies.