Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40940868›Full record

ArticleCancers2025

Two Decades of Outcomes and Quality of Life Following Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy in Children and Adolescents with Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Dominic Leiser, Tobias Dantonello, Reinhardt Krcek, Leonie Grawehr, Jochen Rössler, Gabriele Calaminus, Damien Charles Weber

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cancers, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. What's new in pediatric bone sarcomas and benign bone tumors.Journal of children's orthopaedics · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Dominic LeiserCenter for Proton Therapy, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-7535-1751
Tobias DantonelloDepartment of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Inselspital, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0003-0050-5327
Reinhardt KrcekCenter for Proton Therapy, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
Leonie GrawehrCenter for Proton Therapy, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.ORCID 0009-0005-7268-0492
Jochen RösslerDepartment of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Inselspital, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
Gabriele CalaminusClinic of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7893-7982
Damien Charles WeberCenter for Proton Therapy, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRMS is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children. Pencil beam scanning proton therapy (PBS PT) enables highly conformal dose delivery with reduced exposure to surrounding healthy structures, making it particularly suited for RMS in critical anatomical regions. Long-term clinical outcome data for this new radiation technique are scarce. PURPOSE: This study reports long-term outcomes and quality of life after PBS PT in children and adolescents with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). METHODS AND MATERIALS: We retrospectively reviewed 114 children and adolescents with RMS (mostly embryonal,

resultsAfter a median follow-up period of 7.1 years (range, 0.3 to 17 years), we observed 26 failures overall; 21 (80.8%) occurred in-field. The 5-year local control and overall survival were 81.2% and 81%, respectively. The composite endpoint (non-ocular grade ≥3 toxicity- and failure-free survival) counting the first occurrence of any failure (local or distant), death, or non-ocular CTCAE v5.0 grade ≥3 toxicity was 77.3% at 5 years. At the start of PT, parents and children reported a quality of life significantly worse than that of a German normative group, but during the follow-up period, their scores improved to normal values in nearly all domains within two years.

conclusionsOur two decades of experience with PBS PT provide data that reflect good local control rates and minimal late non-ocular grade 3 toxicity. We also show that quality of life returned to normal scores in nearly all domains within 2 years. Children and adolescents with RMS seem to benefit from PBS PT in terms of toxicity and quality of life, but further prospective, multi-institutional comparative trials are needed.

Indexed as

adolescentschildrenlong term toxicitypencil beam scanning proton therapyproton beam radiation therapyquality of liferhabdomyosarcoma

Identifiers

PMID40940868
PMCPMC12427509

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.