SummaryBackgroundAlthough women with endometrial cancer generally have a favourable prognosis, those with high-risk disease features are at increased risk of recurrence. The PORTEC-3 trial was initiated to investigate the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy during and after radiotherapy (chemoradiotherapy) versus pelvic radiotherapy alone for women with high-risk endometrial cancer.MethodsPORTEC-3 was an open-label, international, randomised, phase 3 trial involving 103 centres in six clinical trials collaborating in the Gynaecological Cancer Intergroup. Eligible women had high-risk endometrial cancer with FIGO 2009 stage I, endometrioid-type grade 3 with deep myometrial invasion or lymph-vascular space invasion (or both), endometrioid-type stage II or III, or stage I to III with serous or clear cell histology. Women were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive radiotherapy alone (48·6 Gy in 1·8 Gy fractions given on 5 days per week) or radiotherapy and chemotherapy (consisting of two cycles of cisplatin 50 mg/m2 given during radiotherapy, followed by four cycles of carboplatin AUC5 and paclitaxel 175 mg/m2) using a biased-coin minimisation procedure with stratification for participating centre, lymphadenectomy, stage of cancer, and histological type. The co-primary endpoints were overall survival and failure-free survival. We used the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox regression analysis for final analysis by intention to treat and adjusted for stratification factors. The study was closed on Dec 20, 2013, after achieving complete accrual; follow-up is ongoing. PORTEC-3 is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN14387080, and ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00411138.Results686 women were enrolled between Nov 23, 2006, and Dec 20, 2013. 660 eligible patients were included in the final analysis, of whom 330 were assigned to chemoradiotherapy and 330 were assigned to radiotherapy. Median follow-up was 60·2 months (IQR 48·1–73·1). 5-year overall survival was 81·8% (95% CI 77·5–86·2) with chemoradiotherapy versus 76·7% (72·1–81·6) with radiotherapy (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0·76, 95% CI 0·54–1·06; p=0·11); 5-year failure-free survival was 75·5% (95% CI 70·3–79·9) versus 68·6% (63·1–73·4; HR 0·71, 95% CI 0·53–0·95; p=0·022). Grade 3 or worse adverse events during treatment occurred in 198 (60%) of 330 who received chemoradiotherapy versus 41 (12%) of 330 patients who received radiotherapy (p<0·0001). Neuropathy (grade 2 or worse) persisted significantly more often after chemoradiotherapy than after radiotherapy (20 [8%] women vs one [1%] at 3 years; p<0·0001). Most deaths were due to endometrial cancer; in four patients (two in each group), the cause of death was uncertain. One death in the radiotherapy group was due to either disease progression or late treatment complications; three deaths (two in the chemoradiotherapy group and one in the radiotherapy group) were due to either intercurrent disease or late treatment-related toxicity.InterpretationAdjuvant chemotherapy given during and after radiotherapy for high-risk ...
The 15-year outcomes of PORTEC-1 confirm the relevance of HIR criteria for treatment selection, and a trend for long-term risk of second cancers. EBRT should be avoided in patients with low- and intermediate-risk EC.
PURPOSE Studies on quality of life (QOL) among women with endometrial cancer have shown that patients who undergo pelvic radiotherapy report lower role functioning and more diarrhea and fatigue. In the Post Operative Radiation Therapy in Endometrial Cancer (PORTEC) trial, patients with endometrial carcinoma were randomly assigned to receive external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or vaginal brachytherapy (VBT). QOL was evaluated by using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 and subscales from the prostate cancer module, PR-25, and the ovarian cancer module, OV-28. PATIENTS AND METHODS PORTEC-2 accrued 427 patients between 2002 and 2006, of whom 214 were randomly assigned to EBRT, and 213 were randomly assigned to VBT. Three-hundred forty-eight patients (81%) were evaluable for QOL. QOL outcomes were analyzed at a median follow-up of 2 years. Results At baseline after surgery, patient functioning was at the lowest level, and it increased during and after radiotherapy to reach a plateau after 12 months. Patients in the VBT group reported better social functioning (P < .002) and lower symptom scores for diarrhea, fecal leakage, the need to stay close to the toilet, and limitation in daily activities because of bowel symptoms (P < .001). At baseline, 15% of patients were sexually active; this increased significantly to 39% during the first year (P < .001). Sexual functioning and symptoms did not differ between the treatment groups. CONCLUSION Patients who received EBRT reported significantly higher levels of diarrhea and bowel symptoms. This resulted in a higher need to remain close to a toilet and, as a consequence, more limitation of daily activities because of bowel symptoms and decreased social functioning. Vaginal brachytherapy provides a better QOL, and should be the preferred treatment from a QOL perspective.
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A B S T R A C T PurposeTo determine the long-term outcome and health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients with endometrial carcinoma (EC) treated with or without pelvic radiotherapy in the Post Operative Radiation Therapy in Endometrial Carcinoma 1 (PORTEC-1) trial.
Patients and MethodsBetween 1990 and 1997, 714 patients with stage IC grade 1 to 2 or IB grade 2 to 3 EC were randomly allocated to pelvic external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or no additional treatment (NAT). HRQL was evaluated with the Short Form 36-Item (SF-36) questionnaire; subscales from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) PR25 module for bowel and bladder symptoms and the OV28 and CX24 modules for sexual symptoms; and demographic questions. Analysis was by intention-to-treat.
ResultsMedian follow-up was 13.3 years. The 15-year actuarial locoregional recurrence rates were 5.8% for EBRT versus 15.5% for NAT (P Ͻ .001), and 15-year overall survival was 52% versus 60% (P ϭ .14). Of the 351 patients confirmed to be alive with correct address, 246 (70%) returned the questionnaire. Patients treated with EBRT reported significant (P Ͻ .01) and clinically relevant higher rates of urinary incontinence, diarrhea, and fecal leakage leading to more limitations in daily activities. Increased symptoms were reflected by the frequent use of incontinence materials after EBRT (day and night use, 42.9% v 15.2% for NAT; P Ͻ .001). Patients treated with EBRT reported lower scores on the SF-36 scales "physical functioning" (P ϭ .004) and "role-physical" (P ϭ .003).
ConclusionEBRT for endometrial cancer is associated with long-term urinary and bowel symptoms and lower physical and role-physical functioning, even 15 years after treatment. Despite its efficacy in reducing locoregional recurrence, EBRT should be avoided in patients with low-and intermediate-risk EC.J Clin Oncol 29.
BACKGROUND: PORTEC-2 was a randomised trial for women with high-intermediate risk (HIR) endometrial cancer, comparing pelvic external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with vaginal brachytherapy (VBT). We evaluated long-term outcomes combined with the results of pathology review and molecular analysis. METHODS: 427 women with HIR endometrial cancer were randomised between 2002-2006 to VBT or EBRT. Primary endpoint was vaginal recurrence (VR). Pathology review was done in 97.4%, combined with molecular analysis. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 116 months; 10-year VR was 3.4% versus 2.4% for VBT vs. EBRT (p = 0.55). Ten-year pelvic recurrence (PR) was more frequent in the VBT group (6.3% vs. 0.9%, p = 0.004), mostly combined with distant metastases (DM). Tenyear isolated PR was 2.5% vs. 0.5%, p = 0.10, and DM 10.4 vs. 8.9% (p = 0.45). Overall survival for VBT vs. EBRT was 69.5% vs. 67.6% at 10 years (p = 0.72). L1CAM and p53-mutant expression and substantial lymph-vascular space invasion were risk factors for PR and DM. EBRT reduced PR in cases with these risk factors. CONCLUSION: Long-term results of the PORTEC-2 trial confirm VBT as standard adjuvant treatment for HIR endometrial cancer. Molecular risk assessment has the potential to guide adjuvant therapy. EBRT provided better pelvic control in patients with unfavourable risk factors.
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