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Published on: February 12, 2017
Wound complications and local recurrence do not differ when using interstitial brachytherapy versus external beam
Martina Hale1, Precious Oyem2, Haley Prough3
1Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, EC-10 Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH.
Purpose:
Interstitial brachytherapy (BT) is an effective adjuvant treatment alternative to conventional external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for soft tissue sarcoma (STS). However, little is known about how the wound healing profile of BT compares to that of EBRT.
Methods:
This is a comparative retrospective cohort study including patients receiving interstitial BT or conventional EBRT as adjuvant therapy to STS resection between 2015 and 2022. EBRT patients were included if their excised tumors had flat, planar geometries that would have made them good candidates for either EBRT or BT. Patient demographic parameters, wound closure techniques, wound complications, and oncologic outcomes were analyzed. Statistical analysis comparing wound complications and oncologic outcomes were assessed using chi-square tests.
Results:
Thirty-two patients received BT, and 23 similar patients met inclusion criteria who received EBRT. Baseline characteristics did not differ between groups. Twelve BT (37.5%) and 7 (30.4%) EBRT patients experienced some form of wound healing complication (p = 0.587) with necrosis being the most common complication. Seven (21.9%) BT patients and 6 (26.1%) EBRT patients required at least one reoperation to address complications (p = 0.717). Two BT and 1 EBRT patient developed local recurrence, and nine in each group developed metastasis.
Conclusions:
Incidence of wound complications and oncologic outcomes did not statistically differ between BT and EBRT cohorts. In this institutional cohort of appropriately selected STS patients, BT was not inferior to EBRT with respect to wound complication rates and local control.
