Virtual On-Treatment Visits: Implementation, Patient Perspectives, Barriers, Limitations, Benefits, and Opportunities.

Purpose: This study aimed to report our initial experience with weekly tele-video "virtual" on-treatment visits (vOTVs), describe the logistics of implementation, report the results of patient and physician surveys, and discuss the barriers, limitations, and benefits of vOTVs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods And Materials: vOTVs were piloted at 2 centers and within 1 week were expanded to 4 additional centers. Patients participating in vOTVs were surveyed about their satisfaction with vOTVs, the quality of vOTVs, and confidence in their physician's ability to manage their care through vOTVs, as well as their support of and preferences related to vOTVs.

Trends in the outcomes for patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer: An analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database.

We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to examine the outcomes of patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) over time and to determine if any trends were present with respect to the publication of significant clinical trials. We assembled a cohort of 6271 patients aged 21 years and older with LS-SCLC diagnosed from 1983 to 1998 and followed through 2005. Potential covariates included patient age at diagnosis, sex, race, year of diagnosis, laterality, tumor size, and location (upper lobe, middle lobe, lower lobe, or main bronchus).

Symptom clusters in patients with newly-diagnosed brain tumors.

A symptom cluster comprises three or more concurrent symptoms. There is a paucity of symptom cluster research in cancer patients. Data from a previously conducted clinical trial were analyzed to search for symptom clusters.

A phase III, double-blind, placebo-controlled prospective randomized clinical trial of d-threo-methylphenidate HCl in brain tumor patients receiving radiation therapy.

Purpose: The quality of life (QOL) and neurocognitive function of patients with brain tumors are negatively affected by the symptoms of their disease and brain radiation therapy (RT). We assessed the effect of prophylactic d-threo-methylphenidate HCl (d-MPH), a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant on QOL and cognitive function in patients undergoing RT.

Methods And Materials: Sixty-eight patients with primary or metastatic brain tumors were randomly assigned to receive d-MPH or placebo.

Locally advanced pancreatic cancer: a review.

It is anticipated that there will be 37,170 new cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in the United States this year, resulting in approximately 33,370 deaths from the disease. Approximately 40% of these patients will present with locally advanced, non-metastatic disease. Treatment regimens that incorporate conventional radiation therapy for local tumor control, and chemotherapy to prevent distant failure in this metastasis-prone malignancy, are the current standard of care.

Phase Ia/Ib chemo-radiation trial of gemcitabine and dose-escalated thoracic radiation in patients with stage III A/B non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: The safety of dose-escalated thoracic radiation concurrent with gemcitabine in patients with inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer has not been studied.

Patients And Materials: The maximal tolerated dose of 35 mg/m twice-weekly gemcitabine and concurrent standard thoracic radiation was established in a previous phase Ia trial. In this study, a second patient cohort (phase Ib) received twice-weekly gemcitabine concurrent with three-dimensional dose-escalated thoracic radiation (60-74 Gy) after two cycles of induction chemotherapy: gemcitabine (1000 mg/m) day 1 and 8 and carboplatin (area under the curve 5.

Managing the cognitive effects of brain tumor radiation therapy.

Postoperative radiation therapy (RT), either alone or in combination with chemotherapy, is the mainstay of treatment for primary and/or metastatic brain tumors. The majority of patients with brain tumors will have significant symptoms of their disease and of RT that will have a negative impact on their quality of life and neurocognitive function. The symptoms of brain tumors depend on tumor location.

Phase II trial of induction gemcitabine/CPT-11 followed by a twice-weekly infusion of gemcitabine and concurrent external beam radiation for the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: This phase II trial of induction irinotecan/gemcitabine followed by twice-weekly gemcitabine and upper abdominal radiation was initiated to determine the activity of this regimen in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Methods: Patients with locally advanced, nonmetastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas received 2 cycles of induction irinotecan (100 mg/m2 IV) and gemcitabine (1000 mg/2 IV) on days 1 and 8 of each 3-week cycle. Following the induction, patients without disease progression received gemcitabine administered twice weekly (40 mg/m2/day) for 5 weeks concurrent with upper abdominal radiation (50.

Magnetic resonance characteristics of medial plica of the knee: correlation with arthroscopic resection.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if there are magnetic resonance (MR) characteristics of the medial plica that correlate with the likelihood of plica resection.

Methods: Sixty-six knee MR examinations from patients who underwent subsequent knee arthroscopy were evaluated retrospectively for the presence of a medial plica. The plicae were then characterized by relative width, thickness, relation to the trochlear cartilage, associated cartilage changes, and effusion.

Irinotecan/gemcitabine followed by twice-weekly gemcitabine/radiation in locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Early clinical studies combining irinotecan (CPT-11, Camptosar) and gemcitabine (Gemzar) have yielded encouraging results. Gemcitabine administered via a twice-weekly schedule results in an enhanced radiation-sensitizing effect. This multi-institution phase II trial of induction irinotecan/gemcitabine followed by twice-weekly gemcitabine and upper abdominal radiation has been initiated to determine the activity of this regimen in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Efficient analysis of periodic dielectric waveguides using Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps.

We present a numerical scheme for the analysis of periodic dielectric waveguides using Floquet-Bloch theory. The problem of finding the fundamental propagation modes is reduced to a nonlinear eigenvalue problem involving Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps. This approach leads to much smaller matrix problems than the ones that have appeared previously.