WE-E-BRB-05: A Novel Detector Dose Calculation Model for in Vivo Delivery Verification of IMRT Treatments.

Purpose: Exit 2D detectors are widely used in clinics as a tool for pre- treatment field verification. It is desired to have accurate modeling of the detector dose for each IMRT plan with patient geometry for in-vivo delivery verification. We propose a novel hybrid of model and measurement based methods to estimate the detector dose using the information from TPS and plan/verification CT.

Cancer chemotherapy: a critical analysis of its 60 years of history.

Chemotherapy has already proven widely effective in the treatment of cancer, occupying a prominent place in the current therapeutic arsenal. However, in recent years, there has been a plateau in the evolution of the clinical results obtained with this modality treatment. In some cases, the limitations of chemotherapy observed during the early days still apply.

Oral ftorafur plus intramuscular thiotepa as adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer.

In this study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of a combination of oral ftorafur administered together with intramuscular thiotepa as adjuvant chemotherapy for "early" breast cancer patients. A total of 30 patients with operated breast cancer were treated with 500 mg/m2 oral ftorafur for 10 consecutive days plus 20 mg/m2 intramuscular (im) administered thiotepa on d 1 and 8 every 28 d adjuvant chemotherapy. Eleven patients were premenopausal and 19 were postmenopausal, with a median age of 53 yr.

Clinical outcome and prognosis of patients with inflammatory breast cancer.

This report analyzes clinical factors affecting outcome in 26 patients with inflammatory breast cancer. Peau d'orange was the most common clinical finding at diagnosis (65%). A palpable breast mass (PBM) was noted in 65% with axillary lymph node involvement in 81% of patients.

Heterogeneous distribution of tumor blood supply affects the response to chemotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer.

Objective: To evaluate if the heterogeneous distribution of tumor blood supply affects the response to chemotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer.

Methods: We treated 25 stage III/IV patients with an intraarterial cisplatinum-bleomycin regimen. Prior to treatment, a blue dye was injected directly to tumors through the catheter.

Rescue FK506 early conversion for refractory rejection after pediatric liver transplantation: experience in 20 children.

Tacrolimus (FK506) is an effective and relatively safe novel immunosuppressant able to revert refractory rejection after pediatric liver transplantation (LTx). Between April 1993 and October 1996, 20 pediatric patients were converted to tacrolimus for biopsy-proven, steroid-resistant liver rejection. The mean follow-up was 18 months.

Medically Inoperable Lung Carcinoma: The Role of Radiation Therapy.

Although surgery has traditionally been the treatment of choice for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer, for those with significant medical problems where surgery is contraindicated, radiation therapy (RT) is a reasonable treatment modality. In contrast to the widely held belief that RT confers little benefit to these patients, a review of the literature and our own series of 245 patients shows that RT can provide significant tumor shrinkage, improved symptoms, and in a small but not negligible number of patients, cure. Several prognostic factors have emerged, including patient performance status, prior weight loss, tumor size, and radiation dose.