Influence of an oligodendroglial component on the survival of patients with anaplastic astrocytomas: a report of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 83-02.

Purpose: Seven percent of patients with high grade gliomas enrolled in RTOG 83-02 had mixed astrocytoma/oligodenroglial elements on central pathology review. It has often been assumed that the most aggressive histologic component of a tumor determines biologic behavior; however in this trial, the survival of patients who had mixed glioblastomas/oligodenrogliomas was significantly longer than that of patients with pure glioblastomas (GBM). We therefore evaluated the effect of an oligodendroglial component on the survival of patients who had anaplastic astrocytomas (AAF) treated in the same trial.

Will primary central nervous system lymphoma be the most frequent brain tumor diagnosed in the year 2000?

Background: There has been a dramatic increase in the diagnosis of primary lymphoma of the brain during the past decade, prompting speculation that it may become the most frequently diagnosed tumor of the central nervous system by the year 2000. The current analysis drew from the updated Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to establish projections for the incidence of brain lymphoma. The study also attempted to determine whether increased incidence rates are attributable to the increasing incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and whether there is gender or age dependence.

Palliation of AIDS-related primary lymphoma of the brain: observations from a multi-institutional database.

Purpose: To catalogue the presenting symptoms of patients with AIDS who are presumed to have primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL). To document the palliative efficacy of cranial irradiation (RT) relative to the endpoints of complete and overall response for the respective symptoms.

Methods: An analysis of 163 patients with AIDS-related PCNSL who were evaluated at nine urban hospitals was performed.

External beam irradiation for choroid metastases: identification of factors predisposing to long-term sequelae.

Purpose: To improve overall quality of life, palliative treatments should attempt to minimize associated complications while effectively controlling specific symptoms. We reviewed our experience treating posterior uveal metastases with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) to determine the complication rate and to identify the relationship between patient, tumor, or treatment-related factors and the development of ocular complications.

Methods And Materials: 483 consecutive patients (pts) (578 eyes) were diagnosed with intraocular metastatic disease from solid tumors between 1972-1995.

Randomized study of chemotherapy/radiation therapy combinations for favorable patients with locally advanced inoperable nonsmall cell lung cancer: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 92-04.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the severity and distribution of the toxicities associated with the two different combinations of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Methods And Materials: This prospective randomized trial studied toxicities associated with induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent treatment (Arm 1) vs. immediate concurrent chemotherapy/radiotherapy (CT/RT) (Arm 2).

Quality of life and neuropsychological evaluation for patients with malignant astrocytomas: RTOG 91-14. Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.

Unlabelled: With increasingly aggressive neurosurgical and radiation therapy modalities (gamma knife, external beam stereotactic radiation and interstitial brachytherapy with or without hyperthermia) offered to patients with malignant astrocytomas (MA), increasing national demand for medical outcome studies and rising health care costs amidst public, business, and governmental debate to cut spending, we as physicians are obligated to continue our research to find effective treatments for malignant astrocytoma (MA) and a cost-effective means to study their impact upon the patient's quality of life (QOL).

Purpose: We report data that was collected within the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) on 126 patients with MA who were enrolled in RTOG 91-14. This study was undertaken to prospectively test the feasibility of performing quality of life (QOL) and neuropsychological evaluation (NPE) and collecting this data within the RTOG.

Dose estimation to critical organs from vertex field treatment of brain tumors.

Purpose: Radiation management of intracranial tumors may require a noncoplanar vertex field that often irradiates the entire length of the body. In view of radiation related risks to the normal tissues dose estimation to the extracranial organs such as the thyroid gland, spinal cord, heart, and genitalia is performed for a vertex field.

Methods And Materials: A vertex field used clinically was reproduced on an anthropomorphic Rando phantom to measure radiation dose to various organs in the primary beam.

Efficient CT simulation of the four-field technique for conformal radiotherapy of prostate carcinoma.

Purpose: Conformal radiotherapy of prostate carcinoma relies on contouring of individual CT slices for target and normal tissue localization. This process can be very time consuming. In the present report, we describe a method to more efficiently localize pelvic anatomy directly from digital reconstructed radiographs (DRRs).

Functional vision is improved in the majority of patients treated with external-beam radiotherapy for choroid metastases: a multivariate analysis of 188 patients.

Purpose: Metastatic deposits are the most common intraocular malignancies. We evaluated the efficacy of external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in the palliation of posterior uveal metastases in terms of clinically relevant outcomes: functional vision, tumor control, and globe preservation.

Patients And Methods: Four hundred eighty-three consecutive patients (578 eyes) were diagnosed with intraocular metastatic disease from solid tumors between 1972 and 1995.

Multiple fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy of residual pituitary macroadenomas: initial experience.

Objective: We describe our initial experience with fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for the treatment of 19 patients with secretory and nonsecretory pituitary macroadenomas. The primary endpoints of local control and the documentation of any MRI T2-weighted changes in contiguous brain tissues are discussed.

Methods: Between 1/95 and 1/97, 19 patients were planned with the X-Knife 3-D planning system (Radionics, Burlington, Mass.

Performance status and age as independent predictors of survival among AIDS patients with primary CNS lymphoma: a multivariate analysis of a multi-institutional experience.

Purpose: There is limited information about the outcome of AIDS patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma treated with definitive irradiation. The purpose of this study was to determine factors associated with increased survival in such patients.

Methods: An analysis was performed of 163 patients with AIDS who were evaluated at nine urban hospitals.

Elapsed radiation therapy treatment time as a predictor of survival in patients with advanced head and neck cancer who receive chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Purpose: To determine whether elapsed radiation therapy treatment time relates to survival in patients with head and neck cancer treated sequentially with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Materials And Methods: From 1981 to 1988, 76 adult patients with bulky stage II-IV head and neck cancer received induction chemotherapy (fluorouracil and cisplatin). Those with a complete or partial response (n = 46) received full-dose definitive radiation therapy (range, 64.

Three-dimensional curvature contrast--geometric or brightness illusion?

Simultaneous contrast effects have been found across a wide range of visual dimensions. We describe a simultaneous contrast effect--three-dimensional curvature contrast--in which the apparent curvature of a surface defined by shading and texture information is influenced by the curvature of a surrounding surface. The effect is strong and easily measurable.

Investigating shape-from-shading illusions using solid objects.

Recent growth in the shape-from-shading psychophysics literature has been paralleled by an increasing availability of computer graphics hardware and software, to the extent that most psychophysical studies in this area now employ computer lighting algorithms. The most widely used of these algorithms in shape-from-shading psychophysics is the Phong lighting model. This model, and other shading models of its genre, produce readily interpretable images of three-dimensional scenes.

The influence of lymphangiography on the development of hypothyroidism in patients irradiated for Hodgkin's disease.

Purpose: There is no consensus in the literature regarding the role of lymphangiography in promoting hypothyroidism in individuals with Hodgkin's disease irradiated with a mantle field. We sought to analyze the onset and rate of developing clinical or chemical hypothyroidism as well as possible factors related to its development in patients who received irradiation to the thyroid gland during treatment of Hodgkin's disease.

Methods And Materials: One hundred and forty-two patients with Hodgkin's disease were treated at the Fox Chase Cancer Center between June 1967 and October 1993.

The effect of illuminant position on perceived curvature.

In shaded scenes surface features can appear either concave or convex, depending upon the viewer's judgement about the direction of the prevailing illumination. If other curvature cues are added to the image this ambiguity can be removed. However, it is not clear to what extent, if any, illuminant position exerts an influence on the perceived magnitude of surface curvature.

Final report of a phase I/II trial of hyperfractionated and accelerated hyperfractionated radiation therapy with carmustine for adults with supratentorial malignant gliomas. Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Study 83-02.

Background: Efforts to improve local control and survival by increasing the dose of once-daily radiation therapy beyond 70 Gray (Gy) for patients with malignant gliomas has yet been unsuccessful. Hyperfractionated radiation therapy (HF) should allow for delivery of a higher total dose without increasing normal tissue late effects, whereas accelerated hyperfractionated radiation therapy (AHF) may minimize tumor repopulation by shortening overall treatment time. The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) conducted a randomized Phase I/II study of escalating doses of HF and AHF either carmustine (bis-chlorethyl nitrosourea [BCNU]) fro adults with supratentorial glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) or anaplastic astrocytoma (AA).

Concurrent chemoradiation therapy with oral etoposide and cisplatin for locally advanced inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer: radiation therapy oncology group protocol 91-06.

Purpose: Patients with locally advanced inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a poor clinical outcome. We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the merit of chemotherapy administered concurrently with hyperfractionated thoracic radiation therapy.

Patients And Methods: Seventy-nine patients with inoperable NSCLC were enrolled onto a multicenter phase II trial of concurrent chemoradiation therapy.

Race and prognosis of brain tumor patients entering multicenter clinical trials. A report from the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.

We investigated the possible influence of race on the survival of patients with malignant gliomas enrolled in three consecutive trials of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) retrospectively using the group's statistical database. There were no statistical differences between the survival rates for black patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and those for the white patients. The limited influence of therapy on this disease may be responsible in part for this result.

Bovine adenovirus type 10: properties of viruses isolated from cases of bovine haemorrhagic enterocolitis.

The isolation, serological classification and growth properties of adenoviruses isolated from fatal cases of haemorrhagic enterocolitis in calves are described. Four viruses, from different submissions, were isolated in cultures of calf testis cells and were identified as adenoviruses by electron microscopy. The four isolates were serologically identical and were classified as bovine adenovirus type 10 in cross-neutralisation tests with other bovine, ovine and porcine adenovirus species.

Phase III study of interstitial thermoradiotherapy compared with interstitial radiotherapy alone in the treatment of recurrent or persistent human tumors. A prospectively controlled randomized study by the Radiation Therapy Group.

Purpose: The objectives of this randomized trial were to determine if interstitial thermoradiotherapy (ITRT) improves tumor regression/control in accessible lesions in comparison with interstitial radiotherapy (IRT) alone and to assess the skin and soft tissue complications with either modality.

Methods And Materials: From January 1986 to June 1992, 184 patients with persistent or recurrent tumors after previous radiotherapy and/or surgery, which were amenable to interstitial radiotherapy, were accessioned to a protocol developed by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). One hundred seventy-three cases were analyzed (87 patients in the IRT group and 86 in the ITRT arm).

Long-term survival results for patients with locally advanced, initially unresectable non-small cell lung cancer treated with aggressive concurrent chemoradiation.

Purpose: Patients with locally advanced, initially unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a median survival time of 9 to 11 months, a 2-year survival rate of 13%, and a long-term survival rate of 5% to 7% when treated with radical thoracic radiation alone. Because of the preclinical radiosensitizing capabilities of 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin and the therapeutic synergy of etoposide and cisplatin, we combined these agents with full-dose radical thoracic radiation to determine the feasibility and efficacy of this approach in locally advanced NSCLC.

Methods: Patients with clinical stage IIIb and bulky IIIa NSCLC and ECOG performance status 0 or 1 received 5-fluorouracil infusion (640-800 mg/m2/d CVI days 1-5, 29-34), cisplatin (20 mg/m2/d, days 1-5, 29-34), etoposide (50 mg/m2, days 1, 3, 5, 29, 31, 33) and concurrent thoracic radiation (60 Gy/2 Gy/d/30 Fx).

Do overall treatment time, field size, and treatment energy influence local control of T1-T2 squamous cell carcinomas of the glottic larynx?

Purpose: To evaluate treatment and patient related prognostic factors that may influence local control in the treatment of T1-T2 squamous cell carcinoma of the glottic larynx.

Methods And Materials: One hundred nine patients with invasive, previously untreated T1-T2 squamous cell carcinoma of the glottic larynx were treated with curative intent with radiotherapy at the Fox Chase Cancer Center between June 1980 and November 1991. Follow-up ranged from 26-165 months (mean 83 months).