Astrid Dalhaug, Adam Pawinski, Terje Tollåli and Carsten Nieder
A case of rapid cancer progression causing impending spinal cord compression at the margin of a previously irradiated treatment volume close to the thoracic spinal cord in a patient with non-small cell lung cancer is presented. The patient and treating physicians were faced with a difficult decision. Either reirradiate and accept a considerable risk of delayed radiation myelopathy or risk paraplegia as a result of tumour progression. To prevent rapid development of neurological deficits, the patient was reirradiated only 34 days after he had finished his initial course of simultaneous radio- and chemotherapy. The high cumulative spinal cord dose (corresponding to 84 Gy in 2-Gy fractions) and short interval to reirradiation resulted in a high risk of radiation myelopathy according to a previously published risk score. However, no treatment-related toxicity developed and neurological function was preserved for almost 5 months. Eventually, tumour progression resulted in paraplegia. This case illustrates important issues around palliative reirradiation of target volumes close to the spinal cord.
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