Thyroid dysfunction as a late effect in survivors of pediatric medulloblastoma/Primitive neuroectodermal tumors : A comparison of hyperfractionated versus conventional radiotherapy
✍ Scribed by Daisy Chin; Charles Sklar; Bernadine Donahue; Naveen Uli; Nancy Geneiser; Jeffrey Allen; Anita Nirenberg; Raphael David; Brenda Kohn; Sharon E. Oberfield
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 101 KB
- Volume
- 80
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0008-543X
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✦ Synopsis
Background:
Primary hypothyroidism is a common sequela of craniospinal radiotherapy in the treatment of pediatric brain tumors.
Methods:
The authors compared the incidence of primary hypothyroidism after hyperfractionated radiotherapy (hfrt) (n = 14 patients) versus conventionally fractionated radiotherapy (crt) (n = 34 patients) in a group of pediatric patients with medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumors (mb/pnet).
Results:
The mean age at the time of tumor diagnosis was 7.9 years in the hfrt group and 8.4 years in the crt group. the patients were followed for a mean of 4.6 years (hfrt) and 8.3 years (crt) after diagnosis. mean radiation doses to the thyroid were similar in both radiotherapy groups (29 gray [gy] [hfrt] vs. 24 gy [crt]). approximately 14% of the hfrt and 62% of the crt patients developed primary hypothyroidism within a similar period after irradiation (3.2 years [hfrt] vs. 3.0 years [crt]). analysis by cumulative incidence function demonstrated a significant difference in the risk of developing thyroid dysfunction between these two groups of patients (p = 0.02).
Conclusions:
The current study findings suggest that the use of hfrt in the treatment of pediatric patients with mb/pnet is associated with a lower risk of these patients developing primary hypothyroidism.