Incidence of Alopecia in Brain Tumor Patients Treated with Pencil Scanning Proton Therapy and Validation of Existing NTCP Models
July 2024
in “
Radiotherapy and Oncology
”
TLDR A standardized scoring system is needed to improve model reliability for predicting hair loss in brain tumor patients treated with proton therapy.
The study investigated radiation-induced alopecia (RIA) in 264 brain tumor patients treated with pencil scanning proton therapy, finding that 61.8% experienced acute RIA, 24.7% had late RIA, and 14.4% had permanent RIA. Existing Normal Tissue Complication Probability (NTCP) models, such as Lyman-Kutcher-Burman and multivariable logistic regression, showed good discrimination for grade 2 RIA but poor calibration due to differences in outcome evaluation and clinical variables between cohorts. The study highlights the need for standardized RIA scoring systems to enhance model validation and clinical application.
