Treatment of benign tumours and related pathologies with radiotherapy: experience of the General Hospital of Mexico

BACKGROUND: Benign diseases include tumours or localized growths with low potential for progression. The use of radiotherapy (RT) at a low dose (LD) or intermediate dose for benign pathologies has been widely proposed and studied. Currently, the use of RT is limited mainly to hyperproliferative and inflammatory diseases as a first or second line of treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational and descriptive study conducted in the Radiotherapy Unit of the Oncology Service of the General Hospital of Mexico “Dr. Eduardo Liceaga” from January 2, 2016, to December 31, 2020. Patients diagnosed with benign pathology and treated with RT were included. The response to treatment was recorded based on the imaging study report and/or clinical review that determined control of the disease, and toxicity was recorded based on the RTOG evaluation for acute effects and CTCAE V. 4.0 for chronic effects. RESULTS: The records of 222 patients were analysed. The mean follow-up duration was 31.53 months (range 6–61), and the median was 24 months. Of all of the analysed pathologies that were treated with RT, keloid scars predominated in 112 patients (50.5%), and paragangliomas predominated in 72 patients (32.4%); the other patients were treated for rare pathologies. The prescribed dose was dependent on the diagnosis, with the mean dose being 31.63 Gy (1500–6000 cGy) and the median being 2000 cGy. Most of the cases of acute and chronic toxicity were grades 1 and 2, and a disease response was achieved in 94.1% of the patients. CONCLUSION: Our series shows that for cases of benign pathology, RT offers acceptable toxicity, improves quality of life and yields a good response, achieving disease control. These results suggest the inclusion of inflammatory pathology among the indications for treatment.