Clinical Efficacy of Hypofractionated Proton Beam Therapy for Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Forty-seven patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) who received proton beam therapy (PBT) were analyzed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of hypofractionated PBT in patients with inoperable or recurrent IHCC. The median prescribed dose of PBT was 63.3 GyE (range: 45-80 GyE) in 10 fractions, and the median duration of follow-up in all the patients was 18.3 months (range: 2.4-89.9 months). Disease progression occurred in 35 of the 47 (74.5%) patients; local, intrahepatic, and extrahepatic progression occurred in 5 (10.6%), 20 (42.6%), and 29 (61.7%) patients, respectively. The 2-year freedom from local progression (FFLP), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) rates, and median time of OS were 86.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 74.4-99.4%), 16.8% (95% CI, 4.3-29.3%), 42.7% (95% CI, 28.0-57.4%), and 21.9 months (95% CI, 16.2-28.3 months), respectively; grade ≥ 3 adverse events were observed in four (8.5%) patients. In selected patients with localized disease (no viable tumors outside of the PBT sites), the median time of OS was 33.8 months (95% CI, 5.4-62.3). These findings suggest that hypofractionated PBT is safe and could offer a high rate of FFLP and promising OS in patients with inoperable or recurrent IHCC.