Proton Therapy for Adult Craniopharyngioma

Purpose/Objective(s) Proton therapy (PT) is being increasingly used for craniopharyngioma. Most series focus on pediatric population. Real therapeutic gain of PT in adults has yet to be demonstrated. We evaluated the outcomes of all adult craniopharyngioma patients treated at our institution using PT to report outcomes for disease control, tumor response and treatment-related toxicity. Materials/Methods We reviewed medical records from 93 histological proven adult craniopharyngioma patients treated with PT at our institution from December 2006 to November 2018. Endpoints were overall survival, disease control and toxicity. The median age at PT was 36.5 years (18-82). Ninety patients were treated after at least one tumor resection prior PT (20 patients as adjuvant treatment after incomplete surgery, 70 for recurrent disease) and 3 as exclusive PT. Patients received double-scattered conformal proton therapy to a mean dose of 54 GyRBE in 1.8 GyRBE/fraction (range 52.2–54 GyRBE). Toxicity was collected according CTCAE v5. Results With median clinical and radiographic follow-up of 37 and 31 months, respectively, the 3-year local control and overall survival rates were 100% and 93.5%, respectively. At last follow up, 16 patients remained in complete remission, 47 in partial remission, 24 with stable disease and 6 patients had a local relapse. Six patients required treatment replanning due to tumor changes during radiotherapy. There were two acute grade 3 toxicity events (one visual field decline and one headache). Two late grade 2 side-effects occurred (one visual field decline and one visual acuity deterioration) and one grade 3 neurocognitive dysfunction following radiotherapy. One patient with pre-existing visual field declines experienced grade 4 visual loss five months after PT and after receiving bevacizumab. Conclusion Fractionated PT appears as an effective and safe treatment for adult craniopharyngioma compared to IMRT and 3DRT. Although the integral dose in normal tissues decreases drastically, the benefit of PT remains uncertain in adult patients. Prospective quality-of-life and neurocognitive studies are needed to better define late toxicity. Only prospective trials in adult population should define the role of RT in terms of techniques, prescribed doses, fractionation and sparing of organs at risk. Author Disclosure N. Scher: None. G. Bentahila: None. A. Beddok: None. C. Alapetite: None. S. Helfre: None. S. Bolle: None. H. Mammar: None. R. Dendale: None. V. Calugaru: None. L. Feuvret: None.