Radiation of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma may be linked with orthopedic-related complications

LAS VEGAS — Orthopedic-related complications from radiation treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma were common and radiation did not improve patients’ overall survival, according to research presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.

Yale Fillingham, MD, and his team of researchers studied 70 patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in bone. He said most patients were older than 50 years, and 42 had primary non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Variables studied included sex, ethnicity, histological subtype and stage of disease classification. There were no significant differences among patient groups.

All of the patients received systemic treatment, and some received radiation treatment. Of the 70 patients, 91% achieved complete or partial remission and 11 died. The overall survivorship was 97% at 5 years and 75% at 10 years. Kaplan Meier analysis showed no significant difference in survival between patients who received radiation and patients who did not.

Of the 42 patients with primary lymphoma, 21 patients had pathologic fractures, eight of whom required operative stabilization. Five of the 70 patients had abnormal healing, four of whom had radiation therapy. Five patients suffered new fractures, all of whom were radiated.

Functional outcome analysis showed that the response rate was 88% and all had appendicular tumors. Radiation had no effect on functional outcome scores and patients who received radiation had more complications than patients who did not receive radiation. Fillingham concluded that radiation did not improve outcomes and said that radiation therapy should be avoided when threating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. – by Shirley Pulawski

Reference:

Ibrihim I, et al. Paper #146. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 24-28, 2015; Las Vegas.

Disclosure: Fillingham reports no relevant financial disclosures.