Abstract:
Objective To validate whether the dose-volume restriction parameters of the thyroid gland in previous studies affect the development of primary hypothyroidism (HT) after radiotherapy.
Methods The study included patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who were treated at Fujian Cancer Hospital between March 2018 and December 2019. The last follow-up was conducted in September 2022, and the main outcome was primary HT. Univariate and multivariate Cox regressions were performed to analyze the association between thyroid dose-volume limitation parameters reported in previous studies and the risk of HT after radiotherapy.
Results In this study, 92 NPC patients were included, with a median follow-up time of 34 months. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed, after adjustment for age, sex, and radiation technology, higher thyroid volume before treatment (<16 cm3 vs. ≥16 cm3), higher absolute volume of thyroid spared from 45 Gy (VS45) (<5 cm3 vs. ≥5 cm3), higher VS50 (<8 cm3 vs. ≥8 cm3), and higher VS60 (<10 cm3 vs. ≥10 cm3) could decreased the risk of HT after radiotherapy HR (95%CI) were 0.290 (0.099−0.847), 0.320 (0.132−0.772), 0.267 (0.113−0.633), and 0.376 (0.163−0.869), respectively).
Conclusions We should be more cautious about the occurrence of HT after radiotherapy for thyroid volume <16 cm3 before treatment. Thyroid VS45 ≥5 cm3, VS50 ≥8 cm3, and VS60 ≥10 cm3 can be recommended for treatment planning.