Background: Stereotactic radiosurgery is widely applied to deliver additional dose to head and neck tumors. However, its safety and efficacy remains equivocal.
Methods: One hundred eighty-four patients with primary head and neck cancers treated between January 1990 and August 2012 with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Two hundred fifteen sites were treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery among 184 patients. Fifty-one percent of patients received concurrent external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), 72% had prior surgery, and 46% received chemotherapy. Most (44%) had squamous cell carcinoma and most patients (65%) were treated for recurrent disease. With a median follow-up of 17.3 months, 12-month local control was 82%. Late effects occurred in 59 patients with the most common being temporal lobe necrosis (15 patients).
Conclusion: Radiosurgery can provide tumor control for patients with head and neck cancers involving the skull base. Long-term follow-up is important in survivors to identify late effects.
Keywords: boost; chemoradiation; head and neck malignancy; late effects; stereotactic radiosurgery.
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.