Comparative study of concurrent chemo-radiation in locally advanced head and neck carcinoma treated with 3DCRT versus telecobalt (2D) therapy in relation to toxicity and response

Background: Radiotherapy techniques in Head and neck cancers have evolved over years from 2D RT to conformal techniques. As conformal radiotherapy planning is more time consuming, costly and not available in every radiotherapy centre in India, we can consider Conventional 2D radiotherapy for patients in a country like India where we get large number of patients with low economic profile and with locally advanced stages. Aims: To compare the clinical response along with acute and late treatment related toxicity between two treatment modalities namely 3DCRT versus Telecobalt therapy during and after completion of Radiotherapy. Materials and Methods: 50 patients of Head and Neck cancer were enrolled in the study and were divided into two arms. Arm A consists of the patients planned for conventional EBRT and Arm B consists of the patients planned for 3DCRT. Statistically analysis was performed with the help of Epi Info (TM) 3.5.3. Chi Square(X2) test was used to test the association of different study variables with the study groups. T-test was used to compare the means. z-test was used to test the significant difference between the two proportions.