Radiotherapy Plan Quality Assurance in NRG Oncology Trials for Brain and Head/Neck Cancers: An AI-Enhanced Knowledge-Based Approach.

The quality of radiation therapy (RT) treatment plans directly affects the outcomes of clinical trials. KBP solutions have been utilized in RT plan quality assurance (QA). In this study, we evaluated the quality of RT plans for brain and head/neck cancers enrolled in multi-institutional clinical trials utilizing a KBP approach.

Adjuvant chemotherapy following chemoradiotherapy as primary treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer versus chemoradiotherapy alone (OUTBACK): an international, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: Standard treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer is chemoradiotherapy, but many patients relapse and die of metastatic disease. We aimed to determine the effects on survival of adjuvant chemotherapy after chemoradiotherapy.

Methods: The OUTBACK trial was a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial done in 157 hospitals in Australia, China, Canada, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the USA.

Low-risk meningioma: Initial outcomes from NRG Oncology/RTOG 0539.

Background: Three- and five-year progression-free survival (PFS) for low-risk meningioma managed with surgery and observation reportedly exceeds 90%. Herewith we summarize outcomes for low-risk meningioma patients enrolled on NRG/RTOG 0539.

Methods: This phase II trial allocated patients to one of three groups per World Health Organization grade, recurrence status, and resection extent.

ZAP-X Gyroscopic Radiosurgery System: A Preliminary Analysis of Clinical Applications within a Retrospective Case Series.

Introduction: The ZAP-X Gyroscopic Radiosurgery system (ZAP Surgical Systems, Inc., San Carlos, CA, USA) is a novel high-dose targeted stereotactic radiosurgery platform for outpatient use that includes self-shielding, X-ray image guidance, and the capacity to aim the radiation beam gyroscopically at an intracranial lesion using 5 independent degrees of freedom. The ZAP-X Gyroscopic Radiosurgery system accomplishes these actions while meeting widely accepted standards for dose gradient and accuracy.

Small-field beam data acquisition, detector dependency, and film-based validation for a novel self-shielded stereotactic radiosurgery system.

Purpose: This study reports a single-institution experience with beam data acquisition and film-based validation for a novel self-shielded sterotactic radiosurgery unit and investigates detector dependency on field output factors (OFs), off-axis ratios (OARs), and percent depth dose (PDD) measurements within the context of small-field dosimetry.

Methods: The delivery platform for this unit consists of a 2.7-MV S-band linear accelerator mounted on coupled gimbals that rotate around a common isocenter (source-to-axis distance [SAD] = 450 mm), allowing for more than 260 noncoplanar beam angles.

Treatment planning system and beam data validation for the ZAP-X: A novel self-shielded stereotactic radiosurgery system.

Purpose: To evaluate the treatment planning system (TPS) performance of the ZAP-X stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) system through nondosimetric, dosimetric, and end-to-end (E2E) tests.

Methods: A comprehensive set of TPS commissioning and validation tests was developed using published guidelines. Nondosimetric validation tests included information transfer, computed tomography-magnetic resonance (CT-MR) image registration, structure/contouring, geometry, dose tools, and CT density.

Surgery After Primary Radiation Treatment for Sporadic Vestibular Schwannomas: Case Series.

Background: As radiation has become an increasingly popular primary treatment option for sporadic vestibular schwannomas, there is a minority of tumors that do not respond favorably to radiation. Data on repeat radiosurgery are emerging, and salvage surgery has been associated with increased technical difficulty and poor facial nerve outcomes.

Objective: To review the current literature and report our results with surgical resection of sporadic vestibular schwannomas that have failed primary radiation treatment.

Management of Chordoma and Chondrosarcoma with Fractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT) for chordoma and chondrosarcoma.

Methods: Twenty consecutive patients with a histopathologic diagnosis of chordoma ( = 16) or chondrosarcoma ( = 4) treated between 2010 and 2016 were retrospectively identified. All patients underwent FSRT in five fractions to a median dose of 37.

Consensus guidelines for postoperative stereotactic body radiation therapy for spinal metastases: results of an international survey.

OBJECTIVE Although postoperative stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for spinal metastases is increasingly performed, few guidelines exist for this application. The purpose of this study is to develop consensus guidelines to promote safe and effective treatment for patients with spinal metastases. METHODS Fifteen radiation oncologists and 5 neurosurgeons, representing 19 centers in 4 countries and having a collective experience of more than 1300 postoperative spine SBRT cases, completed a 19-question survey about postoperative spine SBRT practice.

Estimating the probability of underdosing microscopic brain metastases with hippocampal-sparing whole-brain radiation.

Purpose/objectives: Whole-brain radiation for brain metastases can result in cognitive side effects. Hippocampal-sparing techniques have been developed to decrease morbidity, but they carry the risk of underdosing lesions near the hippocampus due to the unavoidable dose gradient from the hippocampal surface to the prescription isodose surface. This study examines the impact of variable levels of hippocampal sparing on the underdosing of potential brain metastases.

Discovery of additional brain metastases on the day of stereotactic radiosurgery: risk factors and outcomes.

OBJECTIVE High-resolution double-dose gadolinium-enhanced Gamma Knife (GK) radiosurgery-planning MRI (GK MRI) on the day of GK treatment can detect additional brain metastases undiagnosed on the prior diagnostic MRI scan (dMRI), revealing increased intracranial disease burden on the day of radiosurgery, and potentially necessitating a reevaluation of appropriate management. The authors identified factors associated with detecting additional metastases on GK MRI and investigated the relationship between detection of additional metastases and postradiosurgery patient outcomes. METHODS The authors identified 326 patients who received GK radiosurgery at their institution from 2010 through 2013 and had a prior dMRI available for comparison of numbers of brain metastases.

Complications from radiotherapy.

Radiotherapy (RT) of the brain is associated with significant stigma in the neuro-oncology community. This is primarily because of the potentially severe complications with which it may be associated. These complications, especially in subacute and latent settings, are often unpredictable, potentially progressive, and irreversible.

Interval From Imaging to Treatment Delivery in the Radiation Surgery Age: How Long Is Too Long?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate workflow and patient outcomes related to frameless stereotactic radiation surgery (SRS) for brain metastases.

Methods And Materials: We reviewed all treatment demographics, clinical outcomes, and workflow timing, including time from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) simulation, insurance authorization, and consultation to the start of SRS for brain metastases.

Results: A total of 82 patients with 151 brain metastases treated with SRS were evaluated.

Hippocampal Dose With Radiosurgery for Multiple Intracranial Targets: The Rationale for Proactive Beam Shaping.

Stereotactic radiosurgery provides conformal treatment of intracranial lesions, but when multiple lesions are treated, cumulative dose to structures such as the hippocampi may be increased. We analyzed hippocampal dose for patients treated with radiosurgery for multiple brain metastases. We then investigated a means to minimize hippocampal dose.

Response assessment criteria for brain metastases: proposal from the RANO group.

CNS metastases are the most common cause of malignant brain tumours in adults. Historically, patients with brain metastases have been excluded from most clinical trials, but their inclusion is now becoming more common. The medical literature is difficult to interpret because of substantial variation in the response and progression criteria used across clinical trials.

Radiation therapy of glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor that affects approximately 17,000 patients annually. Clear survival advantages have been demonstrated with postoperative radiation therapy (RT) to doses of 5,000-6,000 cGy but dose-escalation attempts beyond 6,000 cGy have resulted in increased toxicity but no additional survival benefit. To improve local control and limit toxicity to normal brain tissue with these infiltrating tumors, novel imaging techniques are actively being explored to better define tumor extent and associated RT treatment fields.

The management of central neurocytoma: radiotherapy.

Intraventricular neurocytomas (IVNs) are rare tumors of neuronal differentiation, accounting for 0.1% to 0.5% of all primary brain tumors.

A treatment paradigm for high-grade brain arteriovenous malformations: volume-staged radiosurgical downgrading followed by microsurgical resection.

Object: The surgical treatment of many large arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) is associated with substantial risks, and many are considered inoperable. Furthermore, AVMs larger than 3 cm in diameter are not usually treated with conventional single-session radiosurgery encompassing the entire AVM volume. Volume-staged stereotactic radiosurgery (VS-SRS) is an option for large AVMs, but it has mixed results.

Predictors of individual tumor local control after stereotactic radiosurgery for non-small cell lung cancer brain metastases.

Purpose: To evaluate local control rates and predictors of individual tumor local control for brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).

Methods And Materials: Between June 1998 and May 2011, 401 brain metastases in 228 patients were treated with Gamma Knife single-fraction SRS. Local failure was defined as an increase in lesion size after SRS.

Role of stereotactic body radiotherapy in spinal metastasis and subsequent fracture risk: identifying and treating the at-risk patient.

The treatment of spinal metastasis has considerably improved with the advent of stereotactic body radiotherapy. Technological advances have enabled the precise delivery of high-dose radiation that may supplant surgery and standard fractionation postoperative radiation as a treatment for spinal metastasis without cord compression. Unfortunately, the higher biologically equivalent doses conferred by stereotactic body radiotherapy can also result in radiation toxicity, notably myelitis and vertebral body fracture.

Adjuvant radiotherapy for atypical and malignant meningiomas: a systematic review.

Atypical meningiomas (AMs) and malignant meningiomas (MMs) are tumors with a lower incidence and poorer prognosis than benign meningiomas. The role of radiotherapy as an adjuvant to surgical resection, especially for AMs, is incompletely defined. In this study, the English-language literature was systematically reviewed for studies that reported tumor characteristics, treatment parameters, and clinical outcomes after adjuvant radiotherapy for AM and MM, including overall survival, progression-free survival, and/or time to recurrence or mortality.

Fractionated radiation therapy for vestibular schwannoma.

Vestibular schwannomas are the most common tumors of the cerebellopontine angle. Multiple management paradigms exist for patients with these benign tumors, including observation, microsurgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, and fractionated radiation therapy, or some combination of these. While the proper course of management is controversial, the goals of therapy are to achieve excellent local tumor control and optimize functional outcomes with as little treatment-related morbidity as possible.

Challenges relating to solid tumour brain metastases in clinical trials, part 2: neurocognitive, neurological, and quality-of-life outcomes. A report from the RANO group.

Neurocognitive function, neurological symptoms, functional independence, and health-related quality of life are major concerns for patients with brain metastases. The inclusion of these endpoints in trials of brain metastases and the methods by which these measures are assessed vary substantially. If functional independence or health-related quality of life are planned as key study outcomes, then the reliability and validity of these endpoints can be crucial because methodological issues might affect the interpretation and acceptance of findings.