Outcomes After Multimodality Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer in an Unselected Single-Center Cohort.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a lethal and rarely resectable malignancy. Here we explore the outcomes of surgery, as compared to definitive radiotherapy (dRT) or systemic therapy only in PDAC.

Methods: Pancreatic surgery and radiotherapy in Southwest Finland have been centralized to Turku University Hospital.

Early clinical experience with a degraded 4 MeV electron beam in radiotherapy of superficial basal cell carcinoma.

The most common non-melanoma skin cancer is basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Surgery is the gold standard treatment but also non-surgical alternatives are needed. The purpose of this work was to present the early clinical experiences of degraded 4 MeV electron beam as a treatment method for superficial BCC.

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of salivary gland function in head and neck cancer patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Background And Purposes: Permanent xerostomia as a result of radiation-induced salivary gland damage remains a common side effect of radiotherapy (RT) of the head and neck. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in assessing the post-RT salivary gland function in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC).

Materials And Methods: In this prospective study, 20 HNC patients scheduled for bilateral neck chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with weekly cisplatin went through diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and salivary gland scintigraphy (SGS) prior to and at a mean of six months after completing the treatment.

[Application of image guided radiation therapy].

The application of different imaging techniques in the planning of and during radiation therapy enables a precise definition of the target region and healthy tissue. New three-dimensional radiotherapy techniques and advanced radiation equipment enable precise implementation of the desired dose of radiation to the treatment region. By using different imaging techniques, a higher treatment dose to the tumor region is enabled with simultaneous protection of healthy tissue structures.

Similar outcomes in Asian and Western patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP.

Background: Little is known on racial differences in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The aim of this retrospective study is to compare characteristics, prognostic factors and outcomes of Asian and Western patients with DLBCL treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (R-CHOP).

Methods: Patient-level data was collected from 8 centers.

High serum vascular endothelial growth factor level is an adverse prognostic factor for high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients treated with dose-dense chemoimmunotherapy.

Objectives: To determine whether serum vascular endothelial growth factor (s-VEGF) levels and VEGF gene expression in tumor tissue predict survival of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy.

Methods: VEGF levels were measured in serum samples from 102 patients <65 yrs with high-risk DLBCL using a quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique. Exon array data set of tumor tissues from 32 patients was concurrently used to determine VEGF-A exon and gene expression.

The Hans algorithm is not prognostic in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP.

Our objective was to evaluate the non-germinal center (GC) profile as a marker for response and survival in DLBCL and to compare the characteristics of patients with GC and non-GC DLBCL treated with rituximab-containing regimens. In this patient-level meta-analysis, retrospective data from 712 newly diagnosed DLBCL patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy from 7 centers were analyzed. GC and non-GC profiles were defined according to the Hans algorithm.