WE-AB-207B-08: Exploring and Refining the QUANTEC Guideline to Reduce Severe Hyposalivation Following IMRT for Head and Neck Cancer.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of the QUANTEC guideline to prevent xerostomia after intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for head and neck cancer (HNC) with respect to follow-up time. In addition, we explored alternative guidelines to further reduce xerostomia.

METHODS: The QUANTEC guideline suggests a mean dose to the contralateral (Dmeancontra) parotid<20 Gy, or Dmeancontra and Dmean to the ipsilateral parotid (Dmeanipsi)<25 Gy. Stimulated whole mouth saliva flow measurements (WMSFM) were conducted at a median of 11 (3-24) months for 63 patients treated with IMRT for HNC to a median dose of 70 Gy in 2006-2015. Severe hyposalivation/xerostomia was defined as WMSFM ≤25% post- relative to pre-RT. Patients were stratified into a <6m (xerostomia: 27% (n=15)), and a 6-24m (xerostomia: 19% (n=10)) follow-up group. Dose-response modeling was performed using logistic regression including Dmeancontra, or Dmeancontra and Dmeanipsi. The area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve (AUC) was used to assess discriminative ability, and the agreement between the estimated and observed rate of xerostomia was given by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (Rs), and related p-values.

RESULTS: Of the non-xerostomia patients, 65% (<6m) and 56% (6-24m) fulfilled Dmeancontra<20 Gy. The estimated and observed rate of xerostomia agreed at <6m (AUC=0.78; Rs=0.46; p=0.001), and was 28% at Dmeancontra=20 Gy. A smaller number of non-xerostomia patients fulfilled the two-gland guideline (33% (<6m) and 26% (6-24m)), but the AUC was higher than using Dmeancontra only (<6m: AUC=0.90; Rs=0.63; p<0.0001; 6-24m: AUC=0.84; Rs=0.25; p=0.08), and the following amendment of the two-gland guideline was suggested: (0.17*Dmeancontra+0.11*Dmeanipsi-8.13)<-1.60 (<6m), and (0.05*Dmeancontra+0.02*Dmeanipsi-3.10)<-1.60 (6-24m).

CONCLUSION: The QUANTEC guideline is effective to prevent xerostomia <6m post-RT, but its usefulness is reduced at later follow-up times. The suggested amendment to the two-gland QUANTEC guideline should be further investigated in an independent cohort of HNC patients treated with IMRT.