External Beam Irradiation (external + beam_irradiation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Treatment results of 1070 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma: An analysis of survival and failure patterns

HEAD & NECK: JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES & SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK, Issue 7 2005
To-Wai Leung FRCR
Abstract Background. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the outcomes of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated primarily by external beam irradiation (ERT) and to explore for possible ways to improve the treatment results. Methods. One thousand seventy patients with nonmetastatic NPC treated from 1990 to 1998 were retrospectively analyzed. The distribution according to the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) (1997 edition) staging system at initial diagnosis was as follows: stage I, n = 113; stage IIA, n = 38; stage IIB, n = 360; stage III, n = 306; stage IVA, n = 136; stage IVB, n = 117; T1, n = 284; T2a, n = 88; T2b, n = 398; T3, n = 149; T4, n = 151; N0, n = 321; N1, n = 393; N2, n = 238; N3a, n = 29; N3b, n = 89. Two hundred eight patients were given neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Ninety-seven patients were diagnosed with locally persistent disease and were salvaged with high dose rate intracavitary brachytherapy. Multivariate analysis was performed with the Cox regression proportional hazards model. Results. The 5-year actuarial local failure,free survival, regional failure,free survival, distant metastasis,free survival, progression-free survival, cancer-specific survival, and overall survival rates were 80.9%, 93.3%, 77.2%, 62.7%, 71.4%, and 66.5%, respectively. Isolated distant metastasis occurred in 191 patients (18%). The distributions were as follow: stage I, 2.1% (two of 95); stage IIA, 5.7% (two of 35); stage IIB, 14.9% (45 of 302); stage III, 26.4% (62 of 235); stage IVA, 40% (40 of 100); stage IVB, 47.1% (40 of 85). Results of the multivariate analysis of various clinical endpoints were discussed. By studying these failure patterns, it is hoped that we could refine future treatments according to the failure patterns of patients with different risks of locoregional and distant failure. Conclusions. The 18% incidence of isolated distant metastasis is too high to be ignored. Maximizing the local control and minimizing the risk of distant metastasis and late complications should be the key objectives in designing future clinical trials. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck27: XXX,XXX, 2005 [source]


Does hormonal manipulation in conjunction with permanent interstitial brachytherapy, with or without supplemental external beam irradiation, improve the biochemical outcome for men with intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer?

BJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2003
G.S. Merrick
OBJECTIVE To determine whether hormonal manipulation improves the biochemical outcome for men with intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer and undergoing permanent brachytherapy with or without supplemental external beam radiation therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS From April 1995 to August 2000, 350 patients with intermediate-risk (225 men; a Gleason score of , 7 or a prostate specific antigen, PSA, level of , 10 ng/mL or clinical stage , T2b) or high-risk features (125 men; two or three of a Gleason score of , 7 or PSA , 10 ng/mL or clinical stage , T2b) underwent transperineal ultrasonography-guided permanent brachytherapy. No patient underwent pathological lymph node staging. Of these patients, 293 received supplemental external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), 141 received hormonal manipulation, with 82 having hormonal therapy for , 4 months (median 4) for cytoreduction, while 59 had neoadjuvant and adjuvant hormonal manipulation (median 8 and 12 months for intermediate- and high-risk, respectively). The median patient age was 68.5 years. No patient was lost to follow-up. The mean (sd) and median follow-up was 50 (18) and 49 months (calculated from the day of implantation). Biochemical disease-free (BDF) survival was defined using a consensus definition. The clinical variables evaluated for BDF survival included risk group, Gleason score, patient age, clinical T-stage and pretreatment PSA. Treatment variables included use of hormonal manipulation stratified into cytoreductive (, 4 months) vs adjuvant (> 4 months) regimens, supplemental EBRT, isotope and dosimetric variables. RESULTS For intermediate-risk patients, the 6-year actuarial BDF survival rates were 98%, 96% and 100% for hormone naïve, cytoreductive and adjuvant treatment, respectively (P = 0.693); for high-risk patients the respective values were 79%, 94% and 92% (P = 0.046). When stratified by pretreatment PSA, hormonal manipulation improved the outcome for patients with a PSA of , 10 ng/mL (P = 0.019), but not for those with < 10 ng/mL (P = 0.661). Hormonal status was not statistically significant in predicting biochemical outcome when stratified by Gleason score. The follow-up in hormone-naïve patients was significantly longer than that in hormonally manipulated patients, at 55 (20) vs 43 (15) months (P < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis only the Gleason score predicted failure in intermediate-risk patients, while pretreatment PSA, the use of hormonal manipulation and Gleason score predicted the outcome in high-risk patients (P = 0.035). For both hormone-naïve and hormonally manipulated BDF patients, the median PSA level after implantation was < 0.1 ng/mL. CONCLUSION In patients treated by permanent prostate brachytherapy, hormonal manipulation improved the biochemical outcome for those at high-risk and those with an initial PSA of , 10 ng/mL, but not for those with intermediate-risk features. The use of hormonal therapy for> 4 months conferred no additional biochemical advantage over short-course regimens. Because the follow-up in hormone-naïve patients was longer than that for those receiving hormonal manipulation, additional follow-up will be mandatory to confirm the durability of these findings. [source]


Locally advanced prostate cancer,biochemical results from a prospective phase II study of intermittent androgen suppression for men with evidence of prostate-specific antigen recurrence after radiotherapy

CANCER, Issue 5 2007
Nicholas Bruchovsky MD
Abstract BACKGROUND. Biochemical results from a prospective Phase II trial of intermittent androgen suppression for recurrent prostate cancer after radiotherapy were analyzed for correlations to the onset of hormone-refractory disease. METHODS. Patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the prostate and a rising serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level after external beam irradiation of the prostate were treated intermittently with a 36-week course of cyproterone acetate and leuprolide acetate. Then, patients were stratified according to their serum PSA range at the start of each cycle and were followed with further biochemical testing until disease progression was evident. RESULTS. The mean PSA reduction was 95.2% irrespective of stratification group. A baseline serum PSA level <10 ,g/L and a serum PSA nadir ,0.2 ,g/L were associated with the longest time off treatment. The overall mean nadir PSA value in the progression group at 1.40 ± 0.19 ,g/L was 2.6-fold greater than the value of 0.55 ± 0.88 ,g/L in the no-progression group (P = .0002). Recovery of serum testosterone to a level of ,7.5 nmol/L was observed in 75%, 50%, 40%, and 30% of men in Cycles 1 to 4, respectively, and was sufficient to normalize the level of hemoglobin in each cycle, which dropped by an average of 10.8 g/L during treatment (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS. The length of the off-treatment interval during cyclic androgen withdrawal therapy was related inversely to baseline and nadir levels of serum PSA. Nadir PSA was a powerful predictor of early progression to androgen independence. Cancer 2007 © 2007 American Cancer Society. [source]


Bilateral diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation and uterine cancer.

ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 3 2000
A case report
ABSTRACT. Purpose: To report a case of bilateral diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation (BDUMP), a rare paraneoplastic syndrome causing visual loss in patients with systemic carcinoma. Results: A 70-year-old woman developed visual symptoms 13 months after surgery and local irradiation therapy for uterine cancer. Following bilateral external beam irradiation supplemented with subsequent drainage of subretinal fluid in the left eye, the visual acuity improved from 0.01 to 0.15 in this eye only. The visual acuity remained at this level until she died 4 1/4 years after the onset of eye symptoms. Conclusion: This is the fourth case that survived longer than 24 months after the onset of visual symptoms of the 22 previously reported cases with BDUMP. It demonstrates that radiotherapy may have a vision-preserving effect in this group of patients. The patient also developed two different paraneoplastic phenomena , a nephrotic syndrome before and BDUMP after treatment for uterine cancer. [source]