Computed tomography-derived myocardial extracellular volume: an early biomarker of cardiotoxicity in esophageal cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.

Objectives: We aimed to assess extracellular volume (ECV) through non-gated, contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) before and after radiation therapy (RT) in patients with esophageal cancer (EC).

Materials And Methods: EC patients who had undergone CT before and after RT were retrospectively assessed. Patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease or with heavily artifacted CT were excluded.

Impact of sentinel lymph-node biopsy and FDG-PET in staging and radiation treatment of anal cancer patients.

To assess the role of sentinel lymph-node biopsy (SLNB) and FDG-PET in staging and radiation treatment (RT) of anal cancer patients. This retrospective study was performed on 80 patients (male: 32, female: 48) with a median age of 60 years (39-89 years) with anal squamous cell carcinoma who were treated from March 2008 to March 2018 at the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital. Patients without clinical evidence of inguinal LNs metastases and/or with discordance between clinical evidence and imaging features were considered for SLNB.

Predicting pathological response after radio-chemotherapy for rectal cancer: Impact of late oxaliplatin administration.

Background And Purpose: A previously introduced index based on early tumor (GTV) regression (ERI) during neo-adjuvant radio-chemotherapy of rectal cancer was used to investigate the impact of changes of oxaliplatin (OXA) delivery on the prediction of pathological complete response (pCR) and residual vital cell (RVC) fraction.

Materials And Methods: Ninety-five patients were treated following an adaptive protocol (41.4 Gy/18fr; 2.

Early variation of 18-fluorine-labelled fluorodeoxyglucose PET-derived parameters after chemoradiotherapy as predictors of survival in locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma patients.

Objective: To investigate if early variation of PET-derived parameters after concomitant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) predicts overall survival (OS), local relapse free survival (LRFS), distant relapse free survival (DRFS) and progression free survival (PFS) in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) patients.

Methods: Fifty-two LAPC patients (median age: 61 years; range: 35-85) with available FDG PET/CT before and after RT (2-6 months, median: 2) were enrolled from May 2005 to June 2015. The predictive value of the percentage variation of mean/maximum standard uptake value (ΔSUVmean/max), metabolic tumour volume (ΔMTV) and total lesion glycolysis (ΔTLG), estimated considering different uptake thresholds (40-50-60%), was investigated between pre- and post-RT PET.

Accurate outcome prediction after neo-adjuvant radio-chemotherapy for rectal cancer based on a TCP-based early regression index.

Background And Purpose: An early tumor regression index (ERI) was previously introduced and found to predict pathological response after neo-adjuvant radio-chemotherapy of rectal cancer. ERI was tested as a potential biomarker in predicting long-term disease-free survival.

Materials And Methods: Data of 65 patients treated with an early regression-guided adaptive boosting technique (ART) were available.

A TCP-based early regression index predicts the pathological response in neo-adjuvant radio-chemotherapy of rectal cancer.

Purpose: Introducing a radiobiological index based on early tumor regression during neo-adjuvant radio-chemotherapy (RCT, including oxaliplatin) of rectal adenocarcinoma and testing its discriminative power in predicting the tumor response.

Methods: Seventy-four patients were treated with Helical Tomotherapy following an adaptive (ART) protocol (41.4 Gy/18 fr, 2.

Magnetic Resonance, Vendor-independent, Intensity Histogram Analysis Predicting Pathologic Complete Response After Radiochemotherapy of Rectal Cancer.

Purpose: The objective of this study is finding an intensity based histogram (IBH) signature to predict pathologic complete response (pCR) probability using only pre-treatment magnetic resonance (MR) and validate it externally in order to create a workflow for the external validation of an MR IBH signature and to apply the model out of the environment where it has been tuned. The impact of pCR and the final predictors on the survival outcome were also evaluated.

Methods And Materials: Three centers using different MR scanners were involved in this retrospective study.

Sites of recurrent disease and prognostic factors in SCLC patients treated with radiochemotherapy.

Objectives: Concurrent radiochemotherapy (RCHT) is standard treatment in locally advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients. Due to conflicting results on elective nodal irradiation (ENI) or selective node irradiation (SNI) there is no clear evidence on optimal target volumes. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to assess the sites of recurrent disease in SCLC and to evaluate the feasibility of SNI ENI.