Radiation Oncology Section, Department of Surgery and Biomedical Sciences, University of Perugia and Perugia General Hospital, Perugia, Italy.
Interdisciplinary Brachytherapy Unit, University of Lübeck/UKSH-CL, Lübeck, Germany.
Biomed Res Int. 2018 Jan 21;2018:2178469. doi: 10.1155/2018/2178469. eCollection 2018.
This review examines the role of interventional radiotherapy (IRT otherwise known as brachytherapy) in cancer treatment for elderly patients. Despite their advanced age and associated comorbidities, elderly patients should receive definitive cancer therapies, including surgery and radiotherapy (RT). In fact, RT becomes first-line option for patients who are not eligible for surgery (due to comorbidities, anticoagulant drugs, and risk of disfigurement) or those who refuse it. It emerged from this review of the literature as effective, simple, safe, and comfortable and was associated with good local control, low toxicity rates, and excellent cosmesis and provided a cost benefit. IRT may be used as sole treatment for small cancers or as a useful adjunct to surgery or external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in more advanced (or lymph node positive) cases, especially when the aim is local control with adequate preservation of normal tissue function. As palliative treatment, IRT preserves quality of life and/or improves survival. It is to be hoped that this review will serve as a helpful guide for members of multidisciplinary teams that are involved in treating elderly patients with cancer.
这篇综述探讨了介入放射治疗（IRT，也称为近距离放射治疗）在老年癌症患者治疗中的作用。尽管老年患者年龄较大且存在合并症，但他们仍应接受包括手术和放疗（RT）在内的确定性癌症治疗。实际上，对于因合并症、抗凝药物和毁容风险而不适合手术或拒绝手术的患者，RT 是首选治疗方法。从对文献的回顾中可以看出，它具有有效性、简便性、安全性和舒适性，并且具有良好的局部控制效果、较低的毒性发生率、出色的美容效果，并具有成本效益。IRT 可单独用于治疗小肿瘤，也可在更晚期（或淋巴结阳性）病例中作为手术或外照射放疗（EBRT）的有用辅助手段，尤其是当目标是局部控制并充分保留正常组织功能时。作为姑息治疗，IRT 可维持生活质量并/或提高生存率。希望这篇综述能为参与治疗老年癌症患者的多学科团队成员提供有益的指导。
