Risk of temporal lobe necrosis between proton beam and volumetric modulated arc therapies in patients with different head and neck cancers

BACKGROUND: To investigate the frequency of temporal lobe necrosis (TLN) soon after radiotherapy (RT) and identify differences among patients with various types of head and neck cancer (HNC) and between different RT methods. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 483 patients with HNC who had completed RT in our hospital after January, 2015. These patients were followed-up at the radio-oncology department and received contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) to identify metastases or recurrence of cancer at regular intervals. Meanwhile, the occurrence of TLN, graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events V5.0, was recorded. We categorized the patients into nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and non-NPC groups and compared the cumulative occurrence of TLN between the groups using Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses. We further compared the cumulative occurrence of TLN between proton beam therapy (PBT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) in patients with any HNC, NPC, and non-NPC HNC. RESULTS: Compared with the non-NPC group, the NPC group had a higher frequency of TLN (5.6% vs. 0.4%, p < 0.01) and were more commonly associated with TLN in the Kaplan–Meier analysis (p < 0.01) and the Cox regression model after covariates were adjusted for (adjusted hazard ratio: 13.35, 95% confidence interval: 1.37–130.61) during the follow-up period. Furthermore, the frequency of TLN was similar between patients receiving PBT and those receiving VMAT (PBT vs. VMAT: 4.7% vs. 6.3%, p = 0.76). Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that the accumulated risks of TLN were similar between PBT and VMAT in patients with any HNC (p = 0.44), NPC (p = 0.84), and non-NPC HNC (p = 0.70). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that patients with NPC are susceptible to TLN during the early period after RT. In addition, PBT may be associated with an equivalent risk of TLN when compared with VMAT in patients with NPC or other HNCs. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13014-023-02344-y.