Comparison of clinical outcomes between carbon ion radiotherapy and X-ray radiotherapy for reirradiation in locoregional recurrence of rectal cancer

Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) has garnered interest for the treatment of locoregional rectal cancer recurrence. No study has compared CIRT and X-ray radiotherapy (XRT) for reirradiation (reRT) in such cases. We analyzed and compared the clinical outcomes such as local control, overall survival, and late toxicity rate between CIRT and XRT, for treating locoregional rectal cancer recurrence. Patients with rectal cancer who received reRT to the pelvis by CIRT or XRT from March 2005 to July 2019 were included. The CIRT treatment schedule was 70.4 Gy (relative biological effectiveness) in 16 fractions. For the XRT group, the median reRT dose was 50 Gy (range 25–62.5 Gy) with a median of 25 fractions (range 3–33). Thirty-five and 31 patients received CIRT and XRT, respectively. Tumour and treatment characteristics such as recurrence location and chemotherapy treatment differed between the two groups. CIRT showed better control of local recurrence (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.17; p = 0.002), better overall survival (HR 0.30; p = 0.004), and lower severe late toxicity rate (HR 0.15; p = 0.015) than XRT. CIRT was effective for treating locoregional rectal cancer recurrence, with high rates of local control and survival, and a low late severe toxicity rate.