Prevalence, severity, and predictors of symptom burden among adolescents and young adults with cancer.

Background: Symptom burden in adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer is poorly characterized but impacts quality of life.

Methods: All Ontario, Canada AYA aged 15-29 years at diagnosis between 2010 and 2018 were linked to population-based healthcare databases, including to Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-revised (ESAS) scores, an 11-point scale routinely obtained at the time of cancer-related outpatient visits and collected provincially. Multistate models estimated mean duration of symptom severity states [none (0) vs.

Primary care utilization for patients with newly diagnosed cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted primary care and cancer care. We studied how primary care utilization in Ontario, Canada changed for patients who were newly diagnosed with cancer just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic compared to those diagnosed in non-pandemic years.

Methods: This population-based, retrospective cohort study used linked healthcare databases to compare outcomes for patients with a new malignancy diagnosed within the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, between July 1 and September 30, 2019 (COVID-19 cohort) to those diagnosed in the same months in 2018 and 2017 (pre-pandemic cohort).

Health Literacy and Radiation Therapy: a Current State Assessment of Patient Education Materials.

In order to mitigate low levels of health literacy among patients, there is need to evaluate patient education (PE) materials and to ensure that the information is readily accessible to patients. The quality and comprehensiveness of radiation therapy materials were evaluated at fourteen cancer centres. To assess quality, PE leaders independently conducted readability, actionability and understandability assessments of materials.

Anxiety and depression in patients with intracranial meningioma: a mixed methods analysis.

Background: While diagnosis with a high-grade intracranial tumor is known to be associated with increased psychosocial burden, the burdens associated with meningioma are less well described. This study aimed to investigate the mental health burden in patients with meningiomas who have undergone surgical resection or serial observation, so as to identify and enhance awareness of gaps in care.

Methods: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was administered to participants.

Relationships, body image, and intimacy: A pilot to increase sexual health conversations between radiation therapists and cancer patients in Ontario.

Background: In 2016, a sexual health guideline recommended that the first step to addressing sexual health and dysfunction resulting from cancer and its treatment is for healthcare providers to initiate sexual health conversations with patients. To action this, a sexual health knowledge translation (KT) pilot was developed.

Methods: The Relationships, Body image, and Intimacy (RBI) pilot was implemented at four regional cancer centres (RCCs) from January 2018 to February 2020 which focused on medical radiation therapists (MRT(T)s) initiating conversations with radiation therapy patients.

Delivery of Virtual Care in Oncology: Province-Wide Interprofessional Consensus Statements Using a Modified Delphi Process.

Virtual cancer care (i.e., teleoncology) was rapidly adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet the needs of patients with cancer.

Establishing best practices in cancer online support groups: protocol for a realist review.

Introduction: Considerable observational evidence suggests that cancer online support groups reduce feelings of isolation, depression and anxiety, enhance coping and self-management, and lead to better informed patients. Other studies indicate that cancer online support groups can increase distress. Yet no studies theorise the complex, context-dependent mechanisms by which cancer online support groups generate their-sometimes contrasting-outcomes.

Prevalence and Workplace Drivers of Burnout in Cancer Care Physicians in Ontario, Canada.

Purpose: Provider well-being has become the fourth pillar of the quadruple aim for providing quality care. Exacerbated by the global COVID-19 pandemic, provider well-being has become a critical issue for health care systems worldwide. We describe the prevalence and key system-level drivers of burnout in oncologists in Ontario, Canada.

Reinventing the wheel: The incidence and cost implication of duplication of effort in patient education materials development.

Objective: The development of patient education (PE) materials is costly and resource-intensive, and no mechanisms exist for sharing materials across cancer centers/hospitals to limit duplicated effort. The aim of this study was to explore the incidence and cost implication of duplicated PE efforts.

Methods: PE leaders from all (14) cancer centers in Ontario, Canada, submitted their collections of systemic therapy PE materials.

The Cost of Patient Education Materials Development: Opportunities to Identify Value and Priorities.

The study aim was to evaluate the costs associated with developing and reviewing patient education materials (pamphlets) across Ontario cancer centers. While patient education often produces a positive return on investment, limited efforts have been dedicated to optimizing the personnel, time, and capital dedicated to this feat across healthcare systems. Patient education leaders at 14 cancer centers completed a survey measure, estimating the number of hours spent developing and reviewing pamphlets and identifying the personnel involved in each procedural step.

American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 263: Standardizing Nomenclatures in Radiation Oncology.

A substantial barrier to the single- and multi-institutional aggregation of data to supporting clinical trials, practice quality improvement efforts, and development of big data analytics resource systems is the lack of standardized nomenclatures for expressing dosimetric data. To address this issue, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 263 was charged with providing nomenclature guidelines and values in radiation oncology for use in clinical trials, data-pooling initiatives, population-based studies, and routine clinical care by standardizing: (1) structure names across image processing and treatment planning system platforms; (2) nomenclature for dosimetric data (eg, dose-volume histogram [DVH]-based metrics); (3) templates for clinical trial groups and users of an initial subset of software platforms to facilitate adoption of the standards; (4) formalism for nomenclature schema, which can accommodate the addition of other structures defined in the future. A multisociety, multidisciplinary, multinational group of 57 members representing stake holders ranging from large academic centers to community clinics and vendors was assembled, including physicists, physicians, dosimetrists, and vendors.

Electrical Characterization of Glycerin: Water Mixtures: Implications for Use as a Coupling Medium in Microwave Tomography.

We examine the broadband behavior of complex electrical properties of glycerin and water mixtures over the frequency range of 0.1 - 25.0 GHz, especially as they relate to using these liquids as coupling media for microwave tomographic imaging.

Toxicology and teratology of the active ingredients of professional therapy MuscleCare products during pregnancy and lactation: a systematic review.

Background: The rates of muscle aches, sprains, and inflammation are significantly increased during pregnancy. However, women are afraid to use systemic analgesics due to perceptions of fetal risks. Thus, topical products are important alternatives to consider for those women.

Dosimetric review of cardiac implantable electronic device patients receiving radiotherapy.

A formal communication process was established and evaluated for the management of patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) receiving radiation therapy (RT). Methods to estimate dose to the CIED were evaluated for their appropriateness in the management of these patients. A retrospective, institutional review board (IRB) approved study of 69 patients with CIEDs treated with RT between 2005 and 2011 was performed.

Video-rate optical dosimetry and dynamic visualization of IMRT and VMAT treatment plans in water using Cherenkov radiation.

Purpose: A novel technique for optical dosimetry of dynamic intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans was investigated for the first time by capturing images of the induced Cherenkov radiation in water.

Methods: A high-sensitivity, intensified CCD camera (ICCD) was configured to acquire a two-dimensional (2D) projection image of the Cherenkov radiation induced by IMRT and VMAT plans, based on the Task Group 119 (TG-119) C-Shape geometry. Plans were generated using the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS) and delivered using 6 MV x-rays from a Varian TrueBeam Linear Accelerator (Linac) incident on a water tank doped with the fluorophore quinine sulfate.

Superficial dosimetry imaging based on Čerenkov emission for external beam radiotherapy with megavoltage x-ray beam.

Purpose: Čerenkov radiation emission occurs in all tissue, when charged particles (either primary or secondary) travel at velocity above the threshold for the Čerenkov effect (about 220 KeV in tissue for electrons). This study presents the first examination of optical Čerenkov emission as a surrogate for the absorbed superficial dose for MV x-ray beams.

Methods: In this study, Monte Carlo simulations of flat and curved surfaces were studied to analyze the energy spectra of charged particles produced in different regions near the surfaces when irradiated by MV x-ray beams.

Superficial dosimetry imaging of Čerenkov emission in electron beam radiotherapy of phantoms.

Čerenkov emission is generated from ionizing radiation in tissue above 264 keV energy. This study presents the first examination of this optical emission as a surrogate for the absorbed superficial dose. Čerenkov emission was imaged from the surface of flat tissue phantoms irradiated with electrons, using a range of field sizes from 6 cm × 6 cm to 20 cm × 20 cm, incident angles from 0° to 50°, and energies from 6 to 18 MeV.

Effect of radiation therapy on permanent pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator function.

Background: Radiation therapy's (RT's) effects on cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) such as implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and pacemakers (PMs) are not well established, leading to device removal or relocation in preparation for RT.

Objective: To determine the effect of scattered RT on CIED performance.

Methods: We analyzed 69 patients--50 (72%) with PMs and 19 (28%) with ICDs--receiving RT at the University of Michigan.

Characterization of an Implicitly Resistively-Loaded Monopole Antenna in Lossy Liquid Media.

Microwave tomographic imaging of the breast for cancer detection is a topic of considerable interest because of the potential to exploit the apparent high-dielectric property contrast between normal and malignant tissue. An important component in the realization of an imaging system is the antenna array to be used for signal transmission/detection. The monopole antenna has proven to be useful in our implementation because it can be easily and accurately modeled and can be positioned in close proximity to the imaging target with high-element density when configured in an imaging array.

Initial clinical experience with microwave breast imaging in women with normal mammography.

Rationale And Objectives: We have developed a microwave tomography system for experimental breast imaging.

Materials And Methods: In this article, we illustrate a strategy for optimizing the coupling liquid for the antenna array based on in vivo measurement data. We present representative phantom experiments to illustrate the imaging system's ability to recover accurate property distributions over the range of dielectric properties expected to be encountered clinically.