Radiation dose responses for chemoradiation therapy of pancreatic cancer: an analysis of compiled clinical data using biophysical models

Abstract

Purpose: We analyzed recent clinical data obtained from chemoradiation of unresectable, locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) in order to examine possible benefits from radiation therapy dose escalation.

Methods and materials: A modified linear quadratic model was used to fit clinical tumor response and survival data of chemoradiation treatments for LAPC reported from 20 institutions. Biophysical radiosensitivity parameters were extracted from the fits.

Results: Examination of the clinical data demonstrated an enhancement in tumor response with higher irradiation dose, an important clinical result for palliation and quality of life. Little indication of improvement in 1-year survival with increased radiation dose was observed. Possible dose escalation schemes are proposed based on calculations of the biologically effective dose required for a 50% tumor response rate.

Conclusions: Based on the evaluation of tumor response data, the escalation of radiation dose presents potential clinical benefits which when combined with normal tissue complication analyses may result in improved treatment outcome for locally advanced pancreatic cancer patients.