Pattern of relapse and outcome of non-metastatic germinoma patients treated with chemotherapy and limited field radiation: the SFOP experience.

Over the last two decades, chemotherapy has been introduced in protocols for patients with intracranial germinoma with the objective of reducing the volume and the dose of irradiation without compromising survival rates. The aim of this work is to critically analyze the pattern of relapse in a cohort of patients with nonmetastatic germinoma prospectively treated with chemotherapy followed by focal field radiation. Data of all germinoma patients registered in the French protocol for intracranial germ cell tumors between 1990 and 1999 were reviewed.

[Future perspectives. From basic research to the development of new therapies aimed at the inhibition of the different stages of signal transduction: applications in breast cancer].

The mechanism implicated in the carcinogenesis are better understood and the transduction of signal is a potential target for new agents. In this review, we describe the different pathways implicated in the transduction of signal and the potential target for new agents in breast cancer.

Preliminary results for prone-position breast irradiation.

Purpose: To evaluate an alternative prone-position technique for breast irradiation after conservative surgery.

Methods And Materials: A plexiglas platform with a circular opening for the breast and a double 30 degrees craniocaudal and 10 degrees transverse (left-right for the right breast and right-left for the left breast) slope was evaluated for positioning, the possible use of CT, and dosimetric study in 35 patients with large pendulous breasts who were likely to benefit from irradiation of the breast alone after conservative surgery.

Results: The positioning was excellent for all but 3 obese patients who could not achieve adequate prolonged immobilization.

Long-term complications of total body irradiation in adults.

Purpose: To report long-term pulmonary, thyroid, and ocular complications in patients who had conditioning regimens including total body irradiation (TBI) before bone marrow transplantation (BMT).

Methods And Materials: Between June 1986 and December 1995, 478 patients received TBI in our institution. The present study includes 186 adult patients who had complete remission lasting one year or more after BMT.

Salvage extended-field irradiation in follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after failure of chemotherapy.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of total abdominopelvic (TAI) and total body irradiation (TBI) in heavily pretreated follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

Patients And Methods: From 1983 to 1998, 34 patients received TAI (n = 22) or TBI (n = 12). All had Stage III or IV, Class B, C, D NHL in the working formulation and failed after receiving 1-5 regimens of chemotherapy.

Ovarian transposition by laparoscopy before radiotherapy in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease.

Background: The use of inverted Y irradiation in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease with pelvic lymph node involvement can cause iatrogenic early menopause in young women as a result of ovarian exposure to radiation. Ovarian transposition protects the ovaries by removing them from the irradiation field. This surgical procedure, initially performed by laparotomy, can now be done by laparoscopy.

Chromosome aberrations after radiotherapy in patients treated for non Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Chromosome aberrations were evaluated in the lymphocytes of 30 patients who had undergone radiotherapy several years before for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Twelve had received 20 Gy over the entire abdomen (group I), 12 wholebody irradiation at 1.5 Gy (group II) and 6 wholebody irradiation at 15 Gy (group III).

Ductal carcinoma in situ of the male breast. Analysis of 31 cases.

From 1970 to 1992, 31 pure ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the male breast treated in 19 French Regional Cancer Centres were reviewed. They represent 5% of all breast cancers treated in men in the same period. The median age was 58 years, but 6 patients were younger than 40 years.

Intraoperative radiation therapy in recurrent carcinoma of the uterine cervix: report of the French intraoperative group on 70 patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and oncologic results of intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) for recurrent uterine cervical carcinoma in a cohort of patients treated in seven French institutions.

Methods And Materials: From 1985 to 1993, 70 patients with pelvic recurrences underwent IORT with/ without external radiation therapy (ERT) and chemotherapy (CT). Treatment modalities for recurrence were IORT alone (40 out of 70), IORT + ERT (30 out of 70), additional chemotherapy (20 out of 70).

[Prevention of post-irradiation xerostomia by submaxillary gland transposition].

Transposition of the contralateral submaxillary gland to the submental region is proposed as a method for preventing asialia following salivary gland irradiation during radiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer. Good results were obtained in the majority of cases treated, salivary secretion being conserved, as confirmed by scintigraphy, but the method should be reserved for patients with oropharyngeal cancer without lymph node metastases on the contralateral side.