Oral pirfenidone in patients with chronic fibrosis resulting from radiotherapy: a pilot study.

Background: Fibrosis is a common side effect after treatment with ionizing radiation. Several methods to ameliorate debilitating fibrosis have been employed but without consistent results. The goal of this pilot study is to determine if Pirfenidone, a novel regulator of cytokine gene expression, has the potential to ameliorate established radiation-induced fibrosis.

Pretransplant pulmonary function tests predict risk of mortality following fractionated total body irradiation and allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplant.

Purpose: To determine the value of pulmonary function tests (PFTs) done before peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSCT) in predicting mortality after total body irradiation (TBI) performed with or without dose reduction to the lung.

Methods And Materials: From 1997 to 2004, 146 consecutive patients with hematologic malignancies received fractionated TBI before PBSCT. With regimen A (n=85), patients were treated without lung dose reduction to 13.

Ectopic Cushing's syndrome caused by an esthesioneuroblastoma.

Objective: To report a case of florid Cushing's hormone (ACTH) secretion related to the presence of an esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB).

Methods: We present clinical, laboratory, and pathologic findings in a 36-year-old Caucasian man presenting with Cushing's syndrome. Results of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy are presented, along with tumor pathology findings.

Pentoxifylline in the treatment of radiation-induced fibrosis.

Purpose: Fibrotic sequelae remain the most important dose-limiting toxicity of radiation therapy to soft tissue. Functionally, this is reflected in loss of range of motion and muscle strength and the development of limb edema and pain. Tumor necrosis factor alpha and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), which are abnormally elevated in irradiated tissues, may mediate radiation fibrovascular injury.

Radiofrequency ablation in a previously irradiated liver.

A patient with renal cell carcinoma underwent external-beam radiation therapy (XRT) to treat a painful chest-wall metastasis. One month later, she underwent radiofrequency (RF) ablation of two metastatic deposits within the liver; one of the target lesions was in the recent irradiation zone and the other was outside of the radiation field. RF ablation within the irradiated liver produced a slightly larger ablation zone with prominent needle tract scarring, and required less energy input than treatment in the unirradiated liver.

Eighteen-year results in the treatment of early breast carcinoma with mastectomy versus breast conservation therapy: the National Cancer Institute Randomized Trial.

Background: Between 1979-1987, the National Cancer Institute conducted a randomized, prospective study of mastectomy (MT) versus breast conservation therapy (BCT) in the treatment of patients with early-stage breast carcinoma. After a median potential follow-up of 18.4 years, the authors present the updated results.

Preoperative FLAC/granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor chemotherapy for stage II breast cancer: a prospective randomized trial.

Background: Preoperative chemotherapy for stage II breast cancer may reduce locoregional tumors and provides initial treatment for systemic micrometastases. We conducted a prospective, randomized trial to evaluate the ability of intensive preoperative chemotherapy to enhance the outcome of this approach.

Methods: Patients with clinical stage II breast cancer (T2N0, T1N1, and T2N1) were prospectively randomized to receive either preoperative or postoperative chemotherapy with five 21-day cycles of fluorouracil, leucovorin calcium, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FLAC)/granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor.

Optically stimulated luminescent glass optical fibre dosemeter.

An optical fibre radiation dosemeter has been developed that utilises optically stimulated luminescence and scintillation to provide independent, remote, real-time dose measurements. The radiation sensitive element consists of a 1 mm long, 0.4 mm diameter piece of copper-ion-doped fused quartz that is attached to a 1 m length of commercial optical fibre.

Juxtathyroidal neck soft tissue angiosarcoma presenting as an undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Angiosarcoma is a malignant growth of endothelial origin, uncommon in the head and neck. We present the case of a 38-year-old woman with long-standing goiter who presented with a rapidly growing 6.0-cm neck mass.

Transplant dose of CD34(+) and CD3(+) cells predicts outcome in patients with haematological malignancies undergoing T cell-depleted peripheral blood stem cell transplants with delayed donor lymphocyte add-back.

We sought to optimize and standardize stem cell and lymphocyte doses of T cell-depleted peripheral blood stem cell transplants (T-PBSCT), using delayed add-back of donor T cells (DLI) to prevent relapse and enhance donor immune recovery. Fifty-one patients with haematological malignancies received a T-PBSCT from an HLA-identical sibling, followed by DLI of 1 x 10(7) and 5 x 10(7) CD3(+) cells/kg on d +45 and +100 respectively. Twenty-four patients were designated as standard risk and twenty-seven patients with more advanced leukaemia were designated as high risk.

Inhibitor of histone deacetylation, depsipeptide (FR901228), in the treatment of peripheral and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma: a case report.

Depsipeptide, FR901228, has demonstrated potent in vitro and in vivo cytotoxic activity against murine and human tumor cell lines. In the laboratory, it has been shown to be a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. In a phase I trial of depsipeptide conducted at the National Cancer Institute, 3 patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma had a partial response, and 1 patient with peripheral T-cell lymphoma, unspecified, had a complete response.

Dosimetric considerations in radiation therapy of coin lesions of the lung.

Purpose: The dose distribution in small lung lesions (coin lesions) is determined by the combined effects of reduced attenuation and electronic disequilibrium. The magnitude of the dose delivered also depends on the algorithm used to correct for reduced lung density. These effects are investigated experimentally and computationally for 10 MV photons.

A new fiducial alignment system to overlay abdominal computed tomography or magnetic resonance anatomical images with radiolabeled antibody single-photon emission computed tomographic scans.

Background: The use of computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) to overlay or register uptake patterns displayed by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with specific underlying anatomy has the potential to improve image interpretation and decrease diagnostic reading errors. The authors have developed a method that will allow the selection of a region of interest on MR or CT images that correlates with SPECT antibody images from the same patient. This method was validated first in phantom studies and subsequently was used on three patients with suspected colorectal carcinoma.