Assessment of Overall Treatment Time in Curative Radiotherapy

Abstract

In radiotherapy, spread is a radiobiological parameter that corresponds to the total duration of treatment expressed in days. The objective of the study is to evaluate adherence to the theoretical spread among patients receiving curative irradiation.This was a prospective study conducted within the radiotherapy department at the National Oncology Institute of Rabat, including 285 patients receiving curative irradiation, regardless of tumor localization, from December 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022. Reasons for missed sessions were collected during end-of-treatment consultations.The median age of our patients was 47 years (range: 36-78 years), with 62% being female and 38% male. Among them, 47.3% were employed. Transportation methods varied; public transportation accounted for 59.2%, taxis for 9.1%, and only 8.7% used personal transportation. Travel time from home to the oncology institute was less than 20 minutes for 12.6% of patients, between 20 and 60 minutes for 75.7%, and over 60 minutes for 11.7%. The most common tumor sites were the breast in 32.2% of cases and the prostate in 23.5% of patients. The theoretical spread was adhered to in 29.8% of cases. In 56.4% of cases, the extension was between 1 and 5 days, and in 13.3% of cases, it was between 6 and 12 days.Causes of spread extension were diverse, with equipment breakdowns and maintenance accounting for 52.1% of cases, intercurrent illness for 10%, holidays for 16%, and treatment refusal for 0.6%. Evaluation of spread in radiotherapy is crucial as it represents a significant factor in local recurrence and indirectly affects distant progression, especially with prolonged treatment durations.