Combined Treatment of Salivary Gland Cancer Patients with the Use of High-Let Radiation

The purpose: To evaluate the efficiency of combined treatment of patients with salivary gland cancer using neutron therapy. Material and methods: The study included 130 patients with salivary gland cancer who underwent combined treatment with adjuvant neutron or standard photon radiotherapy. Neutron therapy was performed on a cyclotron U-120. The average energy of fast neutrons was 6.3 MeV. Results: There was observed a significant decrease in the frequency of relapses in the group of patients who received a postoperative course of NT compared with the control group (21.1 % vs. 45 %, p<0.05). The five-year overall survival in the study group was 73.8±9.5 %, in the control group ‒ 43.2±9.4% (p<0.05). The value of five-year relapse-free survival in the study group was 65.6±7.5 %, in the control group ‒ 34.8±9.1 % (p<0.05). Erythema of the skin in the irradiation area (grade I) was the most frequent type of local acute radiation reaction and was observed in 60 % of patients in the study group and in 25 % of patients in the control group. The most frequent late complication in both groups of patients was skin atrophy and subcutaneous fibrosis (grade I on the RTOG/EORTC scale). In the study group, this indicator was 34.4 %, in the control group ‒ 20 % (p>0.05). Conclusion: Thus, the study confirmed the high effectiveness of fast neutron therapy against malignant tumors of the salivary glands. Neutron therapy does not cause serious complications, encourages to increase of patients life expectancy and to decrease the number of relapses after combined treatment in comparison with standard methods of treatment.