Metformin radiosensitizes OSCC in 2D and 3D models: possible involvement of CAF-1.

Objective: This study investigated metformin as a sensitizer for radiotherapy in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) to reduce the radiation intensity. It evaluated the drug's effect on Chromatin Assembly Factor-1 (CAF-1) expression, whose high levels correlate with worse prognosis of this cancer.

Methods: The effects of metformin, alone and with radiotherapy, were evaluated on CAL27 (HPV-) and SCC154 (HPV+) OSCC cells.

Fatigue trajectories by wearable remote monitoring of breast cancer patients during radiotherapy.

The aim of this pilot study was to assess the compliance of breast cancer (BC) patients with fitness tracker (FT) monitoring program during radiotherapy (RT) and to characterize radiation-induced fatigue (RIF) status through objective evaluation using FT-collected parameters. Thirty-six BC patients were invited to wear FT during their RT course for continuous monitoring of heart rate (HR) and step counts (STP). RIF assessment was performed weekly, according to CTCAE v5.

Neoadjuvant Versus Adjuvant Systemic Therapy in Breast Cancer: A Matched Case-control Study.

Background/aim: Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAT) in breast cancer can make tumors resectable or reduce the extent of surgery needed for locally advanced cancers. It can also better prevent distant relapse and possibly modulate drug therapy by adjusting adjuvant therapy (AD) based on the response to NAT, either by escalating or de-escalating the treatment. However, clear evidence of improved outcomes is currently missing.

Bronchiolitis Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia After Breast Radiation Therapy.

Presented here is a case report of a 77-year-old woman affected by rheumatoid arthritis who underwent breast-conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy (RT) for left-breast cancer and developed bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) after RT and during a COVID-19 vaccination campaign. BOOP incidence is an uncommon morbidity after breast RT (1.2%-2.

Stereotactic Radiation Therapy for Brain Metastases: Factors Affecting Outcomes and Radiation Necrosis.

Stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) is a proven effective treatment for brain metastases (BM); however, symptomatic radiation necrosis (RN) is a late effect that may impact on patient's quality of life. The aim of our study was to retrospectively evaluate survival outcomes and characterize the occurrence of RN in a cohort of BM patients treated with ablative SRT at Federico II University Hospital. Clinical and dosimetric factors of 87 patients bearing a total of 220 BMs treated with SRT from 2016 to 2022 were analyzed.

Patient-specific Monte Carlo-based organ dose estimates in spiral CT via optical 3D body scanning and adaptation of a voxelized phantom dataset: proof-of-principle.

. We present a method for personalized organ dose estimates obtained before the computed tomography (CT) exam, via 3D optical body scanning and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations..

Potential benefits of using radioactive ion beams for range margin reduction in carbon ion therapy.

Sharp dose gradients and high biological effectiveness make ions such as C an ideal tool to treat deep-seated tumors, however, at the same time, sensitive to errors in the range prediction. Tumor safety margins mitigate these uncertainties, but during the irradiation they lead to unavoidable damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. To fully exploit the Bragg peak benefits, a large effort is put into establishing precise range verification methods.

Knowledge-based multi-institution plan prediction of whole breast irradiation with tangential fields.

Purpose: To quantify inter-institute variability of Knowledge-Based (KB) models for right breast cancer patients treated with tangential fields whole breast irradiation (WBI).

Materials And Methods: Ten institutions set KB models by using RapidPlan (Varian Inc.), following previously shared methodologies.

Local tumor control and treatment related toxicity after plaque brachytherapy for uveal melanoma: A systematic review and a data pooled analysis.

Uveal melanoma (UM) represents the most common primary intraocular tumor, and nowadays eye plaque brachytherapy (EPB) is the most frequently used visual acuity preservation treatment option for small to medium sized UMs. The excellent local tumor control (LTC) rate achieved by EPB may be associated with severe complications and adverse events. Several dosimetric and clinical risk factors for the development of EPB-related ocular morbidity can be identified.

Dose-Response of TLD-100 in the Dose Range Useful for Hypofractionated Radiotherapy.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to exploit the feasibility of thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) in radiation therapy techniques in which high dose per fraction is involved.

Methods: Dose-response of TLD-100 (LiF: Mg, Ti) was investigated in both 6-MV photon and 6-MeV electron beams. The element correction factor (ECF) generation method was applied to check the variability of the TLDs response.

Technological evolution of radiation treatment: Implications for clinical applications.

The contemporary approach to the management of a cancer patient requires an "ab initio" involvement of different medical domains in order to correctly design an individual patient's pathway toward cure. With new therapeutic tools in every medical field developing faster than ever before the patient care outcomes can be achieved if all surgical, drug, and radiation options are considered in the design of the appropriate therapeutic strategy for a given patient. Radiation therapy (RT) is a clinical discipline in which experts from different fields continuously interact in order to manage the multistep process of the radiation treatment.

Auto- versus human-driven plan in mediastinal Hodgkin lymphoma radiation treatment.

Background: Technological advances in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) radiation therapy (RT) by high conformal treatments potentially increase control over organs-at-risk (OARs) dose distribution. However, plan optimization remains a time-consuming task with great operator dependent variability. Purpose of the present study was to devise a fully automated pipeline based on the Pinnacle Auto-Planning (AP) algorithm for treating female supradiaphragmatic HL (SHL) patients.

The Role of Adjuvant Radiotherapy for a Case of Primary Breast Sarcoma: A Plan Comparison between Three Modern Techniques and a Review of the Literature.

A 65-year-old woman, affected by a malignant fibrous histiocytoma (undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma) of the left breast, presented to our department to receive the postoperative radiotherapy. In the absence of prospective and randomized trials and investigations on breast sarcoma irradiation in literature, due to the rarity of this pathology, the role of adjuvant radiotherapy remains unclear. To identify the best radiotherapy technique for this patient, three methods were compared: 3D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), and volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) or RapidArc® (RA).

Lung stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy: A large scale multi-institutional planning comparison for interpreting results of multi-institutional studies.

Purpose: A large-scale multi-institutional planning comparison on lung cancer SABR is presented with the aim of investigating possible criticism in carrying out retrospective multicentre data analysis from a dosimetric perspective.

Methods: Five CT series were sent to the participants. The dose prescription to PTV was 54Gy in 3 fractions of 18Gy.

Role of the technical aspects of hypofractionated radiation therapy treatment of prostate cancer: a review.

The increasing use of moderate (<35 fractions) and extreme (<5 fractions) hypofractionated radiation therapy in prostate cancer is yielding favorable results, both in terms of maintained biochemical response and toxicity. Several hypofractionation (HF) schemes for the treatment of prostate cancer are available, although there is considerable variability in the techniques used to manage intra-/interfraction motion and deliver radiation doses. We performed a review of the published studies on HF regimens as a topic of interest for the Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy working group, which is part of the Italian Association of Medical Physics.

A feasibility dosimetric study on prostate cancer : are we ready for a multicenter clinical trial on SBRT?

Purpose: The Italian Association of Medical Physics (AIFM) started a working group dedicated to stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) treatment. In this work, we performed a multicenter planning study on patients who were candidates for SBRT in the treatment of prostate cancer with the aim of evaluating the dosimetric consistency among the different hospitals.

Methods And Materials: Fourteen centers were provided the contours of 5 patients.

Head and neck intensity modulated radiotherapy parotid glands: time of re-planning.

Purpose: To investigate the correct time point for re-planning by evaluating dosimetric changes in the parotid glands (PGs) during intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in head and neck cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: Patients with head and neck cancer treated with IMRT were enrolled. During treatment all patients underwent cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans to verify the set-up.

Is ExacTrac x-ray system an alternative to CBCT for positioning patients with head and neck cancers?

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of a six-degrees-of freedom (6D) correction using ExacTrac robotics system in patients with head-and-neck (HN) cancer receiving radiation therapy.

Methods: Local setup accuracy was analyzed for 12 patients undergoing intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Patient position was imaged daily upon two different protocols, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), and ExacTrac (ET) images correction.