BNCT for Advanced Salivary Gland Carcinoma

Abstract

Norimasa Morita MD, PhD Department of Otolaryngology Kawasaki Medical School Email: nori.morita@gmail.com Phone: +81-86-462-1111 Objectives: Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is one of the radiation therapies known to have a selective lethal effect on tumor cells. This study summarizes the tumor responses and acute and rate phase reactions of the normal tissue with BNCT in the treatment of patients with recurrent T4 and newly diagnosed T4 salivary gland carcinomas. Methods: Two patients with recurrent cancers and 3 with newly diagnosed T4 advanced cancer were registered from October 2003 to September 2007 with the approval of the Medical Ethics Committees of Kawasaki Medical School and Kyoto University. BNCT was performed at the Japan Research Reactor 4 (JRR-4) in a single fraction using an epithermal beam. Results: All patients achieved a complete response within 6 months after BNCT. The median duration of the complete response was 24.0 months. The median overall survival time was 32.0 months. Three of 5 patients are still alive and remaining patients died of distant metastasis. Open biopsy of the parotid gland was performed in one patient at the selective neck dissection. The pathological examination revealed no residual viable cancer cells in the parotid gland without any serious damage of normal glandular system after BNCT. Although mild alopecia, xerostmia and fatigue were occurred in all patients, no severe adverse effects, Grade 3 and more, were observed in any patients. Conclusions: Our preliminary results demonstrate that BNCT is the potential curative therapy for patients with salivary gland carcinomas without causing any serious adverse effects, irrespective of whether the primary site of cancer has already been treated. BNCT for Advanced Salivary Gland Carcinoma Norimasa Morita1, Teruhito Aihara1, Masako Uno1, Koji Ono2, and Tamotsu Harada1 Department of Otolaryngology, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan1 Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory, Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Osaka, Japan2