Acute toxicity in patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy with proton versus intensity-modulated radiation therapy for nonmetastatic head and neck cancers

Background: We evaluated if proton therapy is associated with decreased acute toxicities compared to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancers.

Methods: We analyzed 580 patients with nonmetastatic head and neck cancers. Primary endpoint was any 90-day grade ≥3 toxicity, prospectively collected and graded per CTCAEv4. Modified Poisson regression models were used.

Results: Ninety-five patients received proton and 485 IMRT. The proton group had more HPV-positive tumors (65.6 vs. 58.0%, p = 0.049), postoperative treatment (76.8 vs. 62.1%, p = 0.008), unilateral neck treatment (18.9 vs. 6.6%, p < 0.001) and significantly lower doses to organs-at-risk compared to IMRT group. Adjusted for patient and treatment characteristics, the proton group had decreased grade 2 dysgeusia (RR0.67, 95%CI 0.53-0.84, p = 0.004) and a trend toward lower grade ≥3 toxicities (RR0.60, 95%CI 0.41-0.88, p = 0.06).

Conclusions: Proton therapy was associated with significantly reduced grade 2 dysgeusia and nonstatistically significant decrease in acute grade ≥3 toxicities compared to IMRT.