10-year results of complex treatment with reactor neutrons in locally advanced breast cancer (BC)

Fast and Furious: Fast Neutron Therapy in Cancer Treatment

“…Moreover, breast cancers remain among the tumors most responsive to FNT. For instance, in a study comprising fast reactor neutron and photon arms, enrolling, respectively, 95 and 106 patients with T4Nþ breast cancer, the estimated 10-year survival was, respectively, 32.8% versus 17.1% (P ¼ .02) [36,81]. Startseva et al [37] achieved a 70.8% 10-year OS in patients with different stages of breast cancer by using 6.3-MeV FNT as a preoperative modality.…”

Fast Neutron Therapy for Breast Cancer Treatment: An Effective Technique Sinking into Oblivion

“…Unfortunately, that trial was closed prematurely because of recruitment issues, and it consequently lacked the power to provide evidence for any clinical benefit of FNT over photon radiotherapy. Recently, Ragulin et al [ 10 ] conducted a phase II trial in Russia, which included 201 patients, comparing mixed photon-FNT radiotherapy with photon radiotherapy for inoperable, locally advanced breast cancer, mostly T4N + tumors. That trial showed a significant increase of 10-year overall survival (OS) and 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) in the photon-FNT group (10-y OS, 32.8% versus 17.1%, P < .02; 10-y DFS, 29.5% versus 4.4%, P < .02), whereas the toxicity profiles were strictly comparable between each group.…”