Influence of age on the results of brachytherapy for early tongue cancer

Purpose: To determine the influence of elder age on the results of brachyth erapy For early (T1-2 NO MO) oral tongue cancer and examine the compatibili ty of low-dose rate (LDR) with high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy. Methods and Materials: We analyzed 591 patients treated at Osaka University Hospital between 1967 and 1999. We compared the results of radiotherapy Fo r 156 elderly patients (137 LDR and 19 HDR) 65 years of age or older and 43 5 patients (383 LDR and 52 HDR) less than 65 gears of age. Results: HDR brachytherapy showed the same local control rate as LDR brachy therapy (81% at 3 years). Elderly patients showed a poorer local control ra te (75% at 3 years) than the younger group (83% at 3 years)(p = 0.002), Mul tivariate analysis identified age as the only prognostic factor for local c ontrol (p = 0.002), Conclusions: HDR brachytherapy achieved the same result as LDR brachytherap y. However, the elderly patient showed a higher rate of local recurrence af ter brachytherapy, (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.