oncology radiation

INTRODUCTION: Radiation oncology is a pivotal modality in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. To enable state-of-the-art patient care, structured education during residency is essential. However, given the lack of detailed data, the scope of educational opportunities available to trainees remains elusive. This prompted our group to perform a national survey amongst radiation oncology residents in Germany assessing the status quo of competences in the treatment of lymphoma and leukemia patients...

Deep learning (DL) is poised to redefine the way medical images are processed and analyzed. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs), a specific type of DL architecture, are exceptional for high-throughput processing, allowing for the effective extraction of relevant diagnostic patterns from large volumes of complex visual data. This technology has garnered substantial interest in the field of neuro-oncology as a promising tool to enhance medical imaging throughput and analysis. A multitude of methods harnessing MRI-based CNNs have been proposed for brain tumor segmentation, classification, and prognosis prediction...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Doses to the coronary arteries in breast cancer (BC) radiotherapy (RT) have been suggested to be a risk predictor of long-term cardiac toxicity after BC treatment. We investigated the dose-risk relationships between near maximum doses (Dmax) to the right coronary artery (RCA) and left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality after BC RT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a cohort of 2,813 women diagnosed with BC between 1958 and 1992 with a follow-up of at least 10 years, we identified 134 cases of death due to IHD 10-19 years after BC diagnosis...

AIM: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to explore and evaluate the effect of psychosocial interventions in improving sexual health outcomes among post-treatment patients with pelvic cancer. METHODS: Inclusion and exclusion criteria were pelvic cancer survivors; psychosocial interventions; studies with a control group and measures of sexual health. Five databases were searched for literature along with an inspection of the included studies' reference lists to extend the search...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

This retrospective study examined bone flap displacement during radiotherapy in 25 post-operative brain tumour patients. Though never exceeding 2.5 mm, the sheer frequency of displacement highlights the need for future research on larger populations to validate its presence and assess the potential clinical impact on planning tumour volume margins.

PURPOSE: In oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), systemic loss of skeletal muscle mass (SMM), or sarcopenia, is a strong prognostic predictor of survival outcomes. However, the relationship between sarcopenia and nutrition-related outcomes is not well understood. This investigation evaluated the prognostic significance of sarcopenia for feeding tube (FT) placement in a cohort of OPSCC patients. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted with data collected from 194 OPSCC patients treated with definitive radiation therapy (RT) or chemoradiation therapy (CRT)...

PURPOSE: Swallow-related motion of the larynx is most significant in the cranio-caudal directions and of` short duration. Conventional target definition for radical radiation therapy includes coverage of the whole larynx. This study longitudinally examined respiration- and swallow-related laryngeal motions using cine-magnetic resonance imaging. We further analyzed the dosimetry to organs at risk by comparing 3D-conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT), volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) techniques...

PURPOSE: Despite the increasing interest in using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in radiation therapy (RT), direct comparisons with the more widely used deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) have been limited. This planning study aimed to offer comprehensive geometric and dosimetric evidence by comparing CPAP and DIBH-based RT plans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective data set of 35 patients with left-sided breast cancer with planning computed tomography scans under three breathing conditions (free breathing (FB), CPAP with 10 cmH2 O pressure, and DIBH) was collected...

PURPOSE: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastases is frequently prescribed to the maximum tolerated dose to minimize the probability of local progression. However, many patients die from extracranial disease prior to local progression and may not require maximally aggressive treatment. Recently, improvements in models of SRS tumor control probability (TCP) and overall survival (OS) have been made. We predicted that by combining models of OS and TCP, we could better predict the true risk of local progression after SRS than by using TCP modeling alone...

PURPOSE: We retrospectively investigated spatial pattern associations between primary and recurrent tumor sites after definitive external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for prostate cancer, using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted probe, 18 F-FSU-880. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We used data from our prior phase 2 trial involving patients who received PET/CT with 18 F-FSU-880, which was designed to evaluate the tumor detection efficacy of PSMA-PET/CT for recurrent prostate cancer...

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between normal brain exposure in LINAC-based single-isocenter multitarget multifraction stereotactic radiosurgery or stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) and the number or volume of treated brain metastases, especially for high numbers of metastases. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A cohort of 44 SRT patients with 709 brain metastases was studied. Renormalizing to a uniform prescription of 27 Gy in 3 fractions, normal brain dose volume indices, including V23 Gy (volume receiving >23 Gy), V18 Gy (volume receiving >18 Gy), and mean dose, were evaluated on these plans against the number and the total volume of targets for each plan...

PURPOSE: Myxofibrosarcoma (MFS) is a subtype of soft tissue sarcoma with a highly infiltrative growth pattern that leads to a higher risk of inadvertent positive surgical margins and local relapse. Poorly defined tumor margins also pose a challenge for radiation therapy (RT) planning, in terms of treatment volumes and administration of pre- versus postoperative RT. This study aims to evaluate local control and patterns of recurrence in patients with MFS treated with neoadjuvant RT followed by definitive surgical excision...

PURPOSE: Patients receiving respiratory gated magnetic resonance imaging-guided radiation therapy (MRIgRT) for abdominal targets must hold their breath for ≥25 seconds at a time. Virtual reality (VR) has shown promise for improving patient education and experience for diagnostic MRI scan acquisition. We aimed to develop and pilot-test the first VR app to educate, train, and reduce anxiety and discomfort in patients preparing to receive MRIgRT. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A multidisciplinary team iteratively developed a new VR app with patient input...

PURPOSE: To report continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)-assisted breathing with supine tangential left breast radiation therapy (CPAP-RT) when deep inspiration breath-hold RT (DIBH-RT) was ineffective or unsuitable. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Ten patients with left breast cancer underwent computed tomography simulation scan (CT-sim) under DIBH followed by CPAP-assisted breathing (15 cm H2 O) to create CPAP-RT plans in authors' institute. Reasons for CPAP-RT include inability to reproduce DIBH (n = 5), DIBH-RT plan exceeded dose limits to the heart (n = 2), and unable to proceed with planned DIBH-RT due to mechanical issues (n = 3)...

PURPOSE: Virtual radiation oncology (RO) residency interviews may impair applicant and program evaluation. Second look events (SLEs) exist; however, the frequency, nature, and implications are unknown. We surveyed applicants and program directors (PDs) to characterize the 2023 RO Match SLEs and assess perspectives. METHOD AND MATERIALS: An online, anonymous survey was distributed to 2023 RO Match applicants and American College of Graduate Medical Education-accredited RO PDs post-Match...

PURPOSE: Although radiation therapy is an effective treatment for breast cancer, it has a low rate of use in African countries. A systematic review was undertaken to investigate studies that used radiation therapy as a treatment modality for patients with breast cancer in Africa, focusing on survival outcomes, adverse effects, radiation therapy techniques, fractionation schedules, and effectiveness of radiation therapy. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We conducted a comprehensive literature search for studies that treated breast cancer with radiation therapy, using different electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and EBSCOhost) up to February 2023...

The present study examined the clinical characteristics of patients with a final diagnosis of solitary large malignant lymphoma of the head and neck after surgery. Between January 2015 and December 2022, 13 patients with a final diagnosis of solitary large malignant lymphoma of the head and neck after surgery were enrolled. The most common symptom of solitary large malignant lymphoma was a neck mass (n=11; 84.6%). The most common sites of the head and neck were neck level II (eight patients), neck level IV (two patients), parotid glands (two patients) and the tongue (two patients)...

Myeloid sarcoma (MS) is a rare extramedullary tumor of immature granulocytic cells and is most often associated with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Myeloid sarcomas can occur anywhere in the body but are seldom present in the testicles, especially in the pediatric population. The treatment of MS, especially testicular myeloid sarcoma (TMS) is not well defined in the literature and the role of radiation therapy in the treatment of TMS is even less well defined. In this case report, we discuss the treatment for TMS in a pediatric patient, review the literature, and discuss the role of radiation therapy in the treatment...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the completeness and reliability of recurrence data from an institutional cancer registry for patients with head and neck cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Recurrence information was collected by radiation oncology and otolaryngology researchers. This was compared with the institutional cancer registry for continuous patients treated with radiation therapy for head and neck cancer at a tertiary cancer center. The sensitivity and specificity of institutional cancer registry data was calculated using manual review as the gold standard...