Radiation therapy for vaginal and perirectal lesions in recurrent ovarian cancer

The role for localized radiation to treat ovarian cancer (OC) patients with locally recurrent vaginal/perirectal lesions remains unclear, though we hypothesize these patients may be salvaged locally and gain long-term survival benefit. We describe our institutional outcomes using intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) +/- high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy to treat this population. Our primary objectives were to evaluate complete response rates of targeted lesions after radiation and calculate our 5-year in-field control (IFC) rate. Secondary objectives were to assess radiation-related toxicities, chemotherapy free-interval (CFI), as well as post-radiation progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). PFS and OS were defined from radiation start to either progression or death/last follow-up, respectively. This was a heavily pre-treated cohort of 17 recurrent OC patients with a median follow-up of 28.4 months (range 4.5–166.4) after radiation completion. 52.9% had high-grade serous histology and 4 (23.5%) had isolated vaginal/perirectal disease. Four (23.5%) patients had in-field failures at 3.7, 11.2, 24.5, and 27.5 months after start of radiation, all treated with definitive dosing of radiation therapy. Patients who were platinum-sensitive prior to radiation had similar median PFS (6.5 vs. 13.4 months, log-rank p = 0.75), but longer OS (71.1 vs 18.8 months, log-rank p = 0.05) than their platinum-resistant counterparts. Excluding patients with low-grade histology or who were treated with palliative radiation, median CFI was 14.2 months (range 4.7 – 33.0). Radiation was well tolerated with 2 (12.0%) experiencing grade 3/4 gastrointestinal/genitourinary toxicities. In conclusion, radiation to treat locally recurrent vaginal/perirectal lesions in heavily pre-treated OC patients is safe and may effectively provide IFC.