Bulgarian Experience in Vaginal Electronic Brachytherapy for Gynecologic Cancers' Treatment-First Results.

Background/

Objectives

The objective of this study is to prospectively collect dosimetric and clinical data on vaginal cuff electronic brachytherapy and propose a protocol for the procedure.

Methods

Twenty-five patients who had proven endometrial or cervical carcinoma and had undergone radical hysterectomy have been treated with vaginal cuff electronic brachytherapy. Treatment session durations and doses to the targets and the organs at risk have been extracted from the treatment planning software. Patients have been followed up for early side effects for 3 months.

Results

Treatment session times ranged from 3.0 to 6.6 min. Mean coverage of the planned treatment volume with 100% of the prescribed dose was 90%, and with 95% of the prescribed dose was 95%. Doses in the bladder were lower than those achieved in previously published studies with a mean D2cc of 4.7 Gy, and doses in the rectum were higher with a mean D2cc of 5.3 Gy. The first-month adverse events included eight G1 and three G2 toxicities, while the events registered on the third month were two G2 vaginal dryness events and one G1 urinary tract obstruction, of which only one patient with vaginal dryness did not respond to local treatment. No local relapses have been detected.

Conclusions

Vaginal cuff electronic brachytherapy has demonstrated safety and effectiveness.