Watch-and-wait strategy in rectal cancer: Is there a tumour size limit? Results from two pooled prospective studies.

Background: Frequency and predictive factors for a clinical complete response (cCR) in unselected patients are unclear.

Material And Methods: Two prospective observational studies were designed and pooled to explore predictive factors for cCR. Both studies evaluated the watch-and-wait strategy in consecutive patients; the first single-institutional study in elderly with a small tumour, the second multi-institutional study in all the patients receiving standard of care preoperative radiotherapy.

O-HO PET/CT as a tool for the quantitative assessment of early post-radiotherapy changes of heart perfusion in breast carcinoma patients.

Objective: Studies examining radiation-induced heart toxicity in breast cancer patients are inconclusive. The aim of this study was to prospectively and quantitatively asses myocardial blood flow (MBF) with, for the first time, O-HO PET/CT as a marker of heart damage in irradiated breast cancer patients.

Methods: 15 breast cancer patients receiving intact breast or chest wall irradiation were included in the analysis (six with right-sided and nine with left-sided breast cancer).

Radiotherapy in the prevention of heterotopic ossification after arthroplasty.

Heterotopic ossification (HO) is defined as the formation of mature lamellar bone in nonosseous tissues. HO is a common problem following total hip replacement (THR) and surgical repair of traumatic acetabular fracture (TAF). Without receiving any kind of prophylaxis the incidence of HO in patients with THR is about 30-80%.