The impact of modern radiotherapy on radiation-induced late sequelae: Focus on early-stage mediastinal classical Hodgkin Lymphoma. A critical review by the Young Group of the Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology (AIRO)

Abstract

Introduction: The historically feared radiation-induced secondary cancers and cardiac toxicities observed among mediastinal classical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL) patients may still negatively burden the benefit of radiotherapy among long-term survivors. Modern radiotherapy (RT) delivery techniques, including intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) and deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) solutions, are drastically changing this scenario. Results of a literature overview are reported and discussed in this paper.

Materials and methods: Key references were derived from a PubMed query. Hand searching and clinicaltrials.gov were also used.

Results: This paper contains a narrative report and a critical discussion of organs-at-risk dose-volume metrics linked with radiation-induced toxicities in cHL patients.

Conclusions: The scenario of early-stage cHL presents long-life expectancies, thus the goal of treatment should aim at maintaining high cure rates and limiting the onset of late complications. Further evaluations of dosimetric measures and clinical outcomes are warranted to identify patients at higher risk to target treatment tailoring.

Keywords: Cardiac toxicity; Deep inspiration breath-hold; Hodgkin Lymphoma; Intensity-modulated radiotherapy; Late effects; Late sequelae; Modern RT; Secondary cancer.