Quality of life and oncological outcome in endometrial cancer patients after vaginal brachytherapy: comparison of two dosing schemes.

PURPOSE

Vaginal brachytherapy reduces the risk of local recurrence and was shown to be equieffective in preventing vaginal vault recurrence, but less toxic compared to external-beam radiotherapy in a subset of high intermediate-risk endometrial cancer patients and is administered as single adjuvant treatment in those patients. Different radiotherapeutic approaches with various dosing schemes exist toward brachytherapy. The aim of this study was to compare the outcome and long-term quality of life after brachytherapy with two different high-dose-rate dosing schemes.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis was conducted of the recurrence and survival rates of 104 patients with endometrial cancer FIGO stage I-II that underwent adjuvant brachytherapy with three times 5 Gy or four times 5 Gy to the upper two-thirds of the vaginal vault in two different institutions between January 2010 and December 2013. Quality of life was assessed by EORTC QLQ-30 questionnaire and EN 24 module.

RESULTS

The vaginal vault recurrence rates were 4.9% and 5.0% for patients treated with 3 × 5 Gy and 4 × 5 Gy, respectively (p = 0.98). We did not observe a difference in pelvic recurrence (p = 0.96), overall survival (p = 0.33) or quality of life between the different radiotherapy regimens. Metastatic recurrence and the use of chemotherapy contribute to impairment on quality of life. Younger patients (< 70 years) reported worse emotional functioning (p = 0.02) and higher symptom scales of diarrhea (p = 0.01) and financial problems (p = 0.03). Sexual activity was lower in patients younger than 70 years (p = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Further prospective studies are needed to evaluate the effect of dosing schemes on recurrence rates and quality of life. Younger patients (< 70 years) seem to experience greater reduction in quality of life due to endometrial cancer diagnosis.