Key clinical point: Dose-escalated chemoradiation (CRT) for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) had transient but considerable impact on quality of life (QoL), which was largely resolved from 12 months onwards.
Major finding: Dose-escalated vs standard CRT resulted in larger decline in global health score, role functioning, physical functioning, and social functioning at 6 months and higher fatigue (89% vs. 76%), pain (67% vs 36%), and diarrhea (45% vs 29%) at 3 months after treatment initiation (all P < .05). All symptoms and QoL were similar between the 2 treatment groups from 12 months onwards.
Study details: Findings are from 2 years of follow-up of RECTAL-BOOST trial including 128 patients with LARC treated with either standard CRT (50 Gy in 25 fractions with concurrent capecitabine) or dose-escalated CRT (radiation boost of 15 Gy in 5 fractions without concurrent chemotherapy in the week prior to CRT initiation).
Disclosures: The study was partially supported by Maag Lever Darm Stichting (MLDS), the Netherlands, Grant. HM Verkooijen declared receiving research funding and MPWI personal fees from Elekta AB (Stockholm, Sweden).
Source: Verweij ME et al. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2021 Oct 8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.09.052.