Table 2.
Clinical outcomes broken down by EBT, 3DRT, and IMRT groups with statistical comparison. EBT: endorectal brachytherapy; 3DRT: 3D conformal radiotherapy; IMRT: intensity-modulated radiotherapy; RT: radiotherapy; CEA: carcinoembryonic antigen.
| Clinical outcome | EBT (n = 7) | 3DRT (n = 14) | IMRT (n = 14) | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to surgery from RT start (mean ± SD days) | 53 ± 8 | 104 ± 21 | 119 ± 51 | <0.001 |
| Time to surgery from RT end (mean ± SD days) | 50 ± 8 | 65 ± 20 | 79 ± 51 | 0.038 |
| Post-RT CEA (median (range) ng/mL) | 3.2 (1.1–18.3) | 3.9 (1.4–67.8) | 1.9 (0.5–12.3) | 0.41∗ |
| Change in CEA pre-RT → post-RT (median (range) %) | −20 (−45 to +18) | −40 (−83 to +300) | −12 (−91 to +20) | 0.36∗ |
| No. with grade 1 toxicity (%) | 4 (57) | 14 (100) | 9 (82) | 0.025 |
| No. with grade 2 toxicity (%) | 1 (14) | 8 (57) | 2 (18) | 0.056 |
| No. with grade 3 toxicity (%) | 1 (14) | 1 (7) | 1 (9) | 0.87 |
| No. who underwent sphincter-preserving surgery (%) | 6 (86) | 13 (93) | 10 (91) | 0.87 |
| No. with postoperative complications (%) | 4 (29) | 4 (36) | 2/7 (29) | 0.90 |
| No. alive at 6 months post-RT/total (%) | 7 (100) | 14 (100) | 11 (100) | 1.0 |
| No. with local recurrence at 6 months post-RT (%) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1.0 |
| No. with distant metastasis at 6 months post-RT (%) | 0 (0/7) | 1 (7) | 1 (9) | 0.73 |
∗Medians and ranges are given to better represent the data, but statistical comparison was performed among means.