Trial reportJournal of the National Cancer Institute2025
Impact of daily adaptive head and neck radiotherapy on toxicity and quality of life: results of the DARTBOARD phase II randomized trial.
Trial report in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04883281 (DARTBOARD), which is not on this map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
DARTBOARD: A Prospective Randomized Phase II Study of Daily Adaptive Radiotherapy to Better Organ-at-Risk Doses in Head and Neck Cancer
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- MASCC clinical practice statement: Prevention and management of acute radiation dermatitis using topical corticosteroids.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Guideline
- Development of CBCT-Guided Online Adaptive Radiotherapy.Cancers · 2026Review
- Daily adaptive radiotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma can negatively impact organ at risk dosimetry.Clinical and translational radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Article
- Intrafractional Motion and Margin Assessment for Cone Beam Computed Tomography Guided Online Adaptive Radiation Therapy in Head and Neck Cancer.Advances in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Artificial intelligence applications in adaptive radiotherapy-a narrative review.Translational cancer research · 2026Review
- Spatially aware radiomics integrating anatomical knowledge to improve lymph node malignancy prediction in head and neck cancer.Journal of applied clinical medical physics · 2026Article
- De-escalation of head-and-neck cancer radiotherapy: balancing cure and side effects.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe utility of adaptive radiotherapy (ART) for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains poorly defined. Daily ART (DART) promises both anatomic adaptation and planning target volume (PTV) reduction. In this prospective trial using cone-beam computed tomography-based ART, patients with HNSCC undergoing definitive radiotherapy (RT) or chemoradiotherapy (CRT) were randomly assigned to DART with reduced PTV margins or no ART with standard margins (image-guided RT [IGRT]).
methodsEligibility criteria included a diagnosis of oropharynx, larynx, or hypopharynx HNSCC receiving definitive radiotherapy. All individuals received involved nodal radiotherapy per previous institutional study. The PTV margins were 1 mm (2 mm craniocaudal) vs 5 mm in the DART and IGRT arms, respectively. The primary endpoint was patient-reported xerostomia at 1 year, assessed with the Xerostomia Questionnaire (XQ).
resultsFifty patients were enrolled (26 IGRT, 24 DART) between March 2022 and June 2023. The cohort consisted of 38 oropharynx and 12 larynx/hypopharynx patients. The mean ipsilateral parotid gland, ipsilateral and contralateral submandibular gland doses were significantly lower with DART. There was significantly less acute dermatitis in the DART arm (Grade 0/1/2 0%/69%/31% vs 17%/75%/8% DART, P = .01) but no significant difference in any patient-reported outcome at 1 year. The adjusted difference in XQ score at 1 year was 10.0 (95% CI = -4.7 to 24.7, P = .58).
conclusionOnline DART for HNSCC is oncologically sound and improved acute toxicity profiles, but it did not reduce patient-reported xerostomia, the primary endpoint. Additional evidence is needed to understand the potential benefits and limitations of this paradigm, including its cost-effectiveness.
trial registrationclinicaltrials.gov identifier, NCT04883281.
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