Phase I clinical trial assessing temozolomide and tamoxifen with concomitant radiotherapy for treatment of high-grade glioma.

Purpose: The new standard treatment of glioblastoma multiforme is concurrent radiotherapy (RT) and temozolomide. The proliferation of high-grade gliomas might be partly dependent on protein kinase C-mediated pathways. Tamoxifen has been shown in vitro to inhibit protein kinase C through estrogen receptor-independent antineoplastic effects.

Four-dimensional intensity-modulated radiation therapy planning for dynamic tracking using a direct aperture deformation (DAD) method.

Purpose: Planning for the delivery of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to a moving target, referred to as four-dimensional (4D) IMRT planning, is a crucial step for achieving the treatment objectives for sites that move during treatment delivery. The authors proposed a simplistic method that accounts for both rigid and nonrigid respiration-induced target motion based on 4D computed tomography (4DCT) data sets.

Methods: A set of MLC apertures and weights was first optimized on a reference phase of a 4DCT data set.

Comparative analysis of the post-lumpectomy target volume versus the use of pre-lumpectomy tumor volume for early-stage breast cancer: implications for the future.

Purpose: Three-dimensional conformal accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI-3D-CRT) is commonly associated with the treatment of large amounts of normal breast tissue. We hypothesized that a planning tumor volume (PTV) generation based on an expansion of the pre-lumpectomy (pre-LPC) intact tumor volume would result in smaller volumes of irradiated normal breast tissue compared with using a PTV based on the post-lumpectomy cavity (post-LPC). Use of PTVs based on the pre-LPC might also result in greater patient eligibility for APBI-3D-CRT.

Optimal beam arrangement for stereotactic body radiation therapy delivery in lung tumors.

Purpose: To compare the different beam arrangement and delivery techniques for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of lung lesions using the criteria of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0236 protocol.

Material And Methods: Thirty-seven medically inoperable lung cancers were evaluated with various planning techniques including multiple coplanar multiple static beams, multiple non-coplanar static beams and arc delivery. Twelve plans were evaluated for each case, including five plans using coplanar fixed beams, six plans using non-coplanar fixed beams and one plan using arc therapy.

Long-term outcomes of Gamma Knife radiosurgery for classic trigeminal neuralgia: implications of treatment and critical review of the literature. Clinical article.

Object: Few long-term studies of Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) for trigeminal neuralgia (TN) exist. The authors report their long-term experience with the use of GKS in a previously reported cohort of patients with TN that has now been followed since 1996.

Methods: One hundred twelve patients with TN were treated with GKS at the University of Maryland between June 1996 and July 2001.