Outcome of Retinoblastoma After Implementation of National Retinoblastoma Treatment Guidelines in South Africa.

Purpose: Retinoblastoma, a curable childhood cancer, has been identified as a tracer cancer in the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. To document the outcomes of children with retinoblastoma in South Africa, treated as per the first prospective standard national treatment guidelines for childhood cancer in South Africa.

Patients And Methods: All children diagnosed with retinoblastoma between 2012 and 2016 in five South African pediatric oncology units were treated with a standard treatment on the basis of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology-Pediatric Oncology in Developing Countries guidelines for high-income settings.

Perianal synovial sarcoma treated postoperatively with Iodine-125 brachytherapy: Technical details.

Purpose: A 23-year-old lady had an incompletely excised perianal sarcoma. Brachytherapy as the sole treatment, rather than further surgery or external beam radiotherapy, was considered to be the best option with the least morbidity.

Methods And Materials: Although brachytherapy techniques with iridium-192 for anal and rectal carcinoma are well described using a perianal template, the size of the template was not suitable for a two-plane implant that needed to be in situ for about 4 days.

The treatment of carcinoma in situ and squamous cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva with fractionated strontium-90 radiation in a population with a high prevalence of HIV.

Background: This study explores the safety and efficacy of strontium 90 (Sr-90) brachytherapy as the sole adjuvant therapy for carcinoma in situ (CIS) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the conjunctiva in a high HIV prevalent area.

Methods: This is a retrospective case review of patients treated with 60 Gray Sr-90 brachytherapy in four divided doses after resection with a 2 mm margin and histological confirmation. Cryotherapy or alcohol debridement was not performed at the time of excision due to limited resources.

Iodine-125 brachytherapy in the management of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx.

Purpose: Brachytherapy is an acknowledged modality for treating head and neck cancers and has moved from low-dose-rate (LDR) to high-dose-rate remote afterloading to reduce staff exposure. Iodine-125 ((125)I) is a low-energy source and can be used for LDR brachytherapy with minimal staff exposure. The results of treating with this isotope at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, are reported here.

Brachytherapy and endoresection for choroidal melanoma: a cohort study.

Aim: To report and compare the outcomes of brachytherapy and endoresection in the conservative treatment of medium sized choroidal melanoma.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study. Medium tumours were defined as 2.

Malignant salivary gland tumours: can fast neutron therapy results point the way to carbon ion therapy?

Background And Purpose: To evaluate the outcome of malignant salivary gland tumours treated with neutron therapy to assess the potential for other high linear energy transfer (LET) beams.

Materials And Methods: Neutrons at iThemba LABS are produced by the reaction of 66MeV protons on a beryllium target. A median dose 20.

Iodine-125 orbital brachytherapy with a prosthetic implant in situ.

Purpose: Brachytherapy is one method of irradiating the orbit after enucleation of an eye with a malignant tumor that has a potential to recur. It consists of 6 trains of I-125 seeds placed around the periphery of the orbit, a shorter central train, and a metal disc, loaded with seeds, placed beneath the eyelids. The presence of a prosthetic orbital implant requires omission of the central train and adjustment of the activity of the seeds in the anterior orbit around the prosthesis.

Intraocular rhabdomyosarcoma in the sibling of a patient with a cerebellar medulloepithelioma.

A 12-year-old girl with a three-year history of right eye disease was referred to our service after enucleation of her right eye. Histology showed a pleomorphic high-grade rhabdomyosarcoma. As there was extrascleral extension, we elected to treat her with local radiotherapy and adjuvant vincristine, dactinomycin, cyclophosphamide, and adriamycin.

A proposal for an international retinoblastoma staging system.

Background: Although intra-retinal tumor has long been staged presurgically according to the Reese-Ellsworth (R-E) system, retinoblastoma differs from other pediatric neoplasms in never having had a widely accepted classification system that encompasses the entire spectrum of the disease. Comparisons among studies that consider disease extension, risk factors for extra-ocular relapse, and response to therapy require a universally accepted staging system for extra-ocular disease.

Procedure: A committee of retinoblastoma experts from large centers worldwide has developed a consensus classification that can encompass all retinoblastoma cases and is presented herein.

Neutron versus photon radiotherapy for local control in inoperable breast cancer.

Background And Purpose: By virtue of their high linear energy transfer (LET) characteristics the biologic effectiveness of neutrons is less dependent on tissue oxygenation tension and cell cycle phase as compared to that with photons. Hence, an improved clinical benefit is to be expected predominantly in large, hypoxic and slowly growing tumors. Since a short course of radiotherapy is required for clinical reasons, it prompted the authors to initiate a randomly controlled trial on locally advanced breast cancer.

Post-operative treatment of malignant salivary gland tumours of the palate with iodine-125 brachytherapy.

Background And Purpose: Malignant minor salivary gland tumours are usually small and clinically indistinguishable from benign lesions. Surgery is the treatment of choice with post-operative radiotherapy for involved margins or unfavourable histology. We assessed the results of a series of such patients treated with iodine-125 brachytherapy in the form of a temporary applicator or implant.

Postenucleation orbits in retinoblastoma: treatment with 125I brachytherapy.

Purpose: Children with retinoblastoma that extends into or through the choroid, sclera, or optic nerve are at risk of developing orbital disease, as well as metastases. Previously, these enucleated orbits were treated with external beam radiotherapy in addition to chemotherapy. 125I brachytherapy for tumors in and around the eye was pioneered by Sealy in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1974.