Clinical and dosimetric predictors of physician and patient reported xerostomia following intensity modulated radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer - A prospective cohort analysis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To compare physician and patient reported xerostomia and correlate xerostomia with dosimetric and clinical parameters for nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) patients treated with intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and chemotherapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed the data of 172 patients with locally advanced NPC. Xerostomia was evaluated via physician-rated xerostomia based on RTOG morbidity score (E1), patient-rated dry mouth (E2) and patient-rated sticky saliva (E3) based on EORTC QLQ-HN35 questionnaire. Primary endpoint was the presence of moderate to severe xerostomia at 2-year after completion of IMRT.

RESULTS: The levels of physician reported xerostomia (E1) were consistently lower than patient reported dry mouth (E2) over time. The incidence of patients with xerostomia at 3-month post RT was 58% based on E1, 70% based on E2, and 51% based on E3. The corresponding incidence rates at 2-year post RT was 26% (E1), 36% (E2) and 21% (E3). The incidence of patients with xerostomia at 1-year post RT was close to that at 2-year post RT for all the 3 endpoints. The average Dmean of parotid glands was 41.5 Gy (range: 31.0 Gy-65.9 Gy, median: 40.7 Gy). No dosimetric parameters were significantly associated with xerostomia.

CONCLUSION: Significant proportion of patients still experienced long term xerostomia with IMRT. Dose-effect relationships between xerostomia and the parotid glands were not observed in this study.