Improved survival for patients with prostate cancer receiving high-dose-rate brachytherapy boost to EBRT compared with EBRT alone.

Purpose: High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy boost is a treatment of intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer, but long-term clinical outcome data are sparse. We report long-term survival and toxicity data in a cohort of patients treated in a single institution.

Methods: Between 1998 and 2004, 654 patients with localized prostate cancer received either 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (median 46 Gy) with an HDR (median 18 Gy in three fractions) boost ("3-D conformal radiotherapy [3DCRT] + HDR"; 215 patients) or 3DCRT alone ("3DCRT"; median 70 Gy; 439 patients) with curative intent.

An integrated system for clinical treatment verification of HDR prostate brachytherapy combining source tracking with pretreatment imaging.

Purpose: High-dose-rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy treatment is usually delivered in one or a few large dose fractions. Poor execution of a planned treatment could have significant clinical impact, as high doses are delivered in seconds, and mistakes in an individual fraction cannot be easily rectified. Given that most potential errors in HDR brachytherapy ultimately lead to a geographical miss, a more direct approach to verification of correct treatment delivery is to directly monitor the position of the source throughout the treatment.

Decline in acute urinary toxicities with increased institutional experience: 15-year experience of permanent seed prostate brachytherapy in a single Australasian institution.

Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of acute urinary toxicity after permanent seed prostate brachytherapy (BT) over a 15-year period.

Methods And Materials: The study consisted of 782 prostate cancer patients treated with BT. All patients completed self-administered International Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS) at baseline and during regular follow-up.

Long-term outcomes following post-operative radiotherapy for Stage I/II testicular seminoma - an Australasian single-institution experience.

Introduction: The aim of the study is to review the long-term oncological outcomes and adverse effects of post-operative radiotherapy (PORT) for Stage I/II seminoma patients in an Australian radiation treatment centre.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of 125 patients with Stage I/II seminoma treated with PORT at the Alfred Health Radiation Oncology Service between 1992 and 2013. Patients were linked to the Victorian Cancer Registry to enable confirmation of survival and diagnosis of secondary malignancies (SM).

Urethral strictures following high-dose-rate brachytherapy for prostate cancer: analysis of risk factors.

Purpose: High-dose-rate brachytherapy is an established technique to deliver a conformal dose of radiation to patients with prostate cancer. The William Buckland Radiotherapy Center has been performing high-dose-rate brachytherapy with external beam radiation treatment for prostate cancer since 1998 and has an extensive prospective database on all patients treated. The purpose of this analysis was to assess the risk of stricture formation and identify the predictive or causative factors.

Prostate-specific antigen bounce after permanent iodine-125 prostate brachytherapy--an Australian analysis.

Purpose: To report on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) "bounces" after (125)I prostate brachytherapy to review the relationship to biochemical control and correlate both clinical and dosimetric variables.

Methods And Materials: We analyzed 194 hormone-naive patients with a follow-up of ≥ 3 years. Four bounce definitions were applied: an increase of ≥ 0.

High-dose-rate brachytherapy in combination with conformal external beam radiotherapy in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Purpose: To report long-term outcomes for treatment of prostate cancer using dose escalation with high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy and 3-dimensional conformal external beam radiotherapy (3DCRT), and compare them with outcomes for treatment of prostate cancer with 3DCRT alone at the same institution.

Methods And Materials: From 1998 to 2003, 587 patients were treated for clinically localized prostate cancer. Patients received either 3DCRT (median, 46Gy) with a single HDR brachytherapy implant (196 patients) delivering a fractionated dose of 18Gy (combined group) or 3DCRT (median, 70Gy; 387 patients; "3DCRT alone").

Identification of a Cis-acting regulatory polymorphism in a Eucalypt COBRA-like gene affecting cellulose content.

Populations with low linkage disequilibrium (LD) offer unique opportunities to study functional variants influencing quantitative traits. We exploited the low LD in forest trees to identify functional polymorphisms in a Eucalyptus nitens COBRA-like gene (EniCOBL4A), whose Arabidopsis homolog has been implicated in cellulose deposition. Linkage analysis in a full-sib family revealed that EniCOBL4A is the most strongly associated marker in a quantitative trait locus (QTL) region for cellulose content.

Second primary oesophageal cancer following radiation for breast cancer.

The management of 12 women who presented with a second primary oesophageal cancer following radiotherapy for breast cancer was reviewed. It was concluded that nine cases fitted the classical description of a radiation-induced malignancy. Most cases were successfully managed with combined modality therapy in spite of their previous radiotherapy.