Brachytherapy for rhabdomyosarcoma: Survey of international clinical practice and development of guidelines

Abstract

Background and purpose: The purpose of this study was to address the lack of published data on the use of brachytherapy in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma by describing current practice as starting point to develop consensus guidelines.

Materials and methods: An international expert panel on the treatment of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma comprising 24 (pediatric) radiation oncologists, brachytherapists and pediatric surgeons met for a Brachytherapy Workshop hosted by the European paediatric Soft tissue Sarcoma Study Group (EpSSG). The panel's clinical experience, the results of a previously distributed questionnaire, and a review of the literature were presented.

Results: The survey indicated the most common use of brachytherapy to be in combination with tumor resection, followed by brachytherapy as sole local therapy modality. HDR was increasingly deployed in pediatric practice, especially for genitourinary sites. Brachytherapy planning was mostly by 3D imaging based on CT. Recommendations for patient selection, treatment requirements, implant technique, delineation, dose prescription, dose reporting and clinical management were defined.

Conclusions: Consensus guidelines for the use of brachytherapy in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma have been developed through multicenter collaboration establishing the basis for future work. These have been adopted for the open EpSSG overarching study for children and adults with Frontline and Relapsed RhabdoMyoSarcoma (FaR-RMS).

Keywords: Brachytherapy; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Soft Tissue Sarcoma.