Marital Status and Overall Survival in Patients with Resectable Pancreatic Cancer: Results of an Ancillary Analysis of NRG Oncology/RTOG 9704.

Background: Several registry-based analyses suggested a survival advantage for married versus single patients with pancreatic cancer. The mechanisms underlying the association of marital status and survival are likely multiple and complex and, therefore, may be obscured in analyses generated from large population-based databases. The goal of this research was to characterize this potential association of marital status with outcomes in patients with resected pancreatic cancer who underwent combined modality adjuvant therapy on a prospective clinical trial.

Postresection CA19-9 and margin status as predictors of recurrence after adjuvant treatment for pancreatic carcinoma: Analysis of NRG oncology RTOG trial 9704.

Purpose: NRG Oncology RTOG 9704 was the first adjuvant trial to validate the prognostic value of postresection CA19-9 levels for survival in patients with pancreatic carcinoma. The data resulting from this study also provide information about predictors of recurrence that may be used to tailor individualized management in this disease setting. This secondary analysis assessed the prognostic value of postresection CA19-9 and surgical margin status (SMS) in predicting patterns of disease recurrence.

Oral surgery in patients undergoing chemoradiation therapy.

Oral health care in patients undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy can be complex. Care delivered by a multidisciplinary approach is timely and streamlines the allocation of resources to provide prompt care and to attain favorable outcomes. A hospital dentist, oral and maxillofacial surgeon, and a maxillofacial prosthodontist must be involved early to prevent avoidable oral complications.

Update in radiation therapy for oral and maxillofacial tumors and dose mapping.

Radiation therapy (RT) is an important modality in the treatment of head and neck cancers. Significant morbidity can result, however, because of exposure of normal tissues to high doses of RT. Advances in planning and delivery, especially intensity modulated radiation therapy, can reduce the risk of these toxicities by ensuring that the tumor and draining lymph nodes are adequately treated, while the surrounding organs and tissues at risk are avoided.