Treatment of pulmonary metastases in children with stage IV nephroblastoma with risk-based use of pulmonary radiotherapy.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the outcome of children with nephroblastoma and pulmonary metastases (PM) treated according to International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) 93-01 recommendations using pulmonary radiotherapy (RT) in selected patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients (6 months to 18 years) were treated with preoperative chemotherapy consisting of 6 weeks of vincristine, dactinomycin, and epirubicin or doxorubicin. If pulmonary complete remission (CR) was not obtained, metastasectomy was considered. Patients in CR received three-drug postoperative chemotherapy, whereas patients not in CR were switched to a high-risk (HR) regimen with an assessment at week 11. If CR was not obtained, pulmonary RT was mandatory.

RESULTS: Two hundred thirty-four of 1,770 patients had PM. Patients with PM were older (P < .001) and had larger tumor volumes compared with nonmetastatic patients (P < .001). Eighty-four percent of patients were in CR postoperatively, with 17% requiring metastasectomy. Thirty-five patients (16%) had multiple inoperable PM and required the HR protocol. Only 14% of patients received pulmonary RT during first-line treatment. For patients with PM, 5-year event-free survival rate was 73% (95% CI, 68% to 79%), and 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 82% (95% CI, 77% to 88%). Five-year OS was similar for patients with local stage I and II disease (92% and 90%, respectively) but lower for patients with local stage III disease (68%; P < .001). Patients in CR after chemotherapy only and patients in CR after chemotherapy and metastasectomy had a better outcome than patients with multiple unresectable PM (5-year OS, 88%, 92%, and 48%, respectively; P < .001).

CONCLUSION: Following the SIOP protocol, pulmonary RT can be omitted for a majority of patients with PM and results in a relatively good outcome.