Publications by authors named "Joseph Salama"

Objectives: Surgery is the standard of care for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with SBRT reserved for patients who are not surgical candidates. We hypothesized overall survival (OS), lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS), progression free survival (PFS), and recurrence rates following SBRT or surgery in medically operable patients with Stage I NSCLC from the Veterans' Health Care System (VAHS) would be equivalent.

Materials And Methods: Medically operable patients diagnosed with Stage I NSCLC between 2000-2020 from the VAHS, determined by an FEV1 or DLCO > 60 % of predicted and Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) of 0 or 1, treated with SBRT or surgery were identified.

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The United States Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System has a strong history of conducting impactful oncology randomized clinical trials (RCTs). We developed a phase II/III RCT to test the use of metastasis-directed therapy in Veterans with oligometastatic prostate cancer (OMPC)-the first VA RCT in OMPC that leverages novel imaging and advanced radiotherapy techniques. To accomplish this, we developed a clinical trial network to conduct the study.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study evaluates the effectiveness of ChatGPT, an AI program, in providing accurate information related to radiation oncology, including answering patient questions and summarizing significant clinical research.
  • The assessment revealed that ChatGPT often produced inaccurate or incomplete information, with only 39.7% of patient question responses deemed correct and comprehensive.
  • Despite the shortcomings, the study suggests that while ChatGPT is currently unreliable as a resource for patients and healthcare providers in radiation oncology, there may be potential for improvement in the future.
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Purpose: Clinical and imaging surveillance of patients with brain metastases is important after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) because many will experience intracranial progression (ITCP) requiring multidisciplinary management. The prognostic significance of neurologic symptoms at the time of ITCP is poorly understood.

Methods And Materials: This was a multi-institutional, retrospective cohort study from 2015 to 2020, including all patients with brain metastases completing an initial course of SRS.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to determine if earlier brain MRIs from patients receiving multiple courses of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) showed signs of undetected brain metastases that later needed treatment.
  • - Researchers reviewed MRIs from 683 patients, finding that 128 of the 345 treated metastases in follow-up courses corresponded to retrospectively identified lesions, or "retrospectively identified metastases" (RIMs), which were classified based on imaging criteria.
  • - Results indicated that many RIMs could indicate future treatment needs; specifically, a significant percentage of RIMs met diagnostic criteria, suggesting improved detection methods could lead to earlier intervention and fewer SRS sessions.
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Introduction: The oligometastatic state in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has recently become well-established. However, the specific definition of oligometastases remains unclear. Several smaller randomized studies have investigated the safety and efficacy of radiation as metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) in oligometastatic NSCLC, which have led the way to larger studies currently accruing patients globally.

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the toxicity and outcomes following treatment of prostate cancer with seminal vesicle involvement (SVI) evident on magnetic resonance imaging or clinical examination with moderately hypofractionated radiation therapy (MHRT).

Methods And Materials: Forty-one patients treated with MHRT to the prostate and 1 or both seminal vesicles from 2013 to 2021 at a single institution were identified and propensity score matched to 82 patients treated during the same period with prescription dose given to the prostate alone. Dosimetry of the planning target volume, bladder, and rectum were compared.

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Importance: Clinical trials for metastatic malignant neoplasms are increasingly being extended to patients with brain metastases. Despite the preeminence of progression-free survival (PFS) as a primary oncologic end point, the correlation of intracranial progression (ICP) and extracranial progression (ECP) events with overall survival (OS) is poorly understood for patients with brain metastases following stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).

Objective: To determine the correlation of ICP and ECP with OS among patients with brain metastases completing an initial SRS course.

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Background: While moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy (MHRT) for prostate cancer (PC) is commonly delivered by intensity modulated radiation therapy, IMRT has not been prospectively compared to three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) in this context. We conducted a secondary analysis of the phase III RTOG 0415 trial comparing survival and toxicity outcomes for low-risk PC following MHRT with IMRT versus 3D-CRT.

Methods: RTOG 0415 was a phase III, non-inferiority trial randomizing low-risk PC patients to either MHRT or conventionally fractionated radiation with stratification by RT technique.

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Background: Moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy (MHRT) is an accepted treatment for localized prostate cancer; however, limited MHRT data address high-risk prostate cancer (HRPC) and/or African American patients. We report clinical outcomes and toxicity profiles for individuals with HRPC treated in an equal access system.

Methods: We identified patients with HRPC treated with MHRT at a US Department of Veterans Affairs referral center.

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Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a standard of care for many patients with brain metastases. To optimize post-SRS surveillance, this study aimed to validate a previously published nomogram predicting post-SRS intracranial progression (IP). We identified consecutive patients completing an initial course of SRS across two institutions between July 2017 and December 2020.

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Purpose: The Oncotype DX Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) assay has been validated as a strong prognostic indicator of adverse pathology, biochemical recurrence, distant metastasis (DM), and prostate cancer (PCa)-related death (PCD) in men with localized PCa after radical prostatectomy. However, it has yet to be tested in men undergoing external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), for whom assessing PCa progression risk could inform decisions on treatment intensity. We analyzed whether GPS results are associated with time to biochemical failure (BCF), DM, and PCD after EBRT in men with localized PCa and whether the association is modified by race.

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Purpose: We sought to develop a computer-aided detection (CAD) system that optimally augments human performance, excelling especially at identifying small inconspicuous brain metastases (BMs), by training a convolutional neural network on a unique magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data set containing subtle BMs that were not detected prospectively during routine clinical care.

Methods And Materials: Patients receiving stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for BMs at our institution from 2016 to 2018 without prior brain-directed therapy or small cell histology were eligible. For patients who underwent 2 consecutive courses of SRS, treatment planning MRIs from their initial course were reviewed for radiographic evidence of an emerging metastasis at the same location as metastases treated in their second SRS course.

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Purpose: We previously reported on the clinical outcomes of treating oligometastases with radiation using an elective simultaneous integrated boost technique (SIB), delivering higher doses to known metastases and reduced doses to adjacent bone or nodal basins. Here we compare outcomes of oligometastases receiving radiation targeting metastases alone (MA) versus those treated via an SIB.

Methods: Oligometastatic patients with ≤5 active metastases treated with either SIB or MA radiation at two institutions from 2013 to 2019 were analyzed retrospectively for treatment-related toxicity, pain control, and recurrence patterns.

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Introduction: Treatment of advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has changed dramatically due to immunotherapy. However, patients without Programmed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression often benefit less from immunotherapy. This trial is designed to test if stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to a single tumor site can significantly enhance the outcome of patients with advanced stage PD-L1(-) NSCLC when added to systemic therapy including immunotherapy.

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Purpose: To evaluate the effect of prostate volume on outcomes after moderately hypofractionated radiation therapy (mHFRT) for prostate cancer.

Methods And Materials: Prostate cancer patients treated with mHFRT at a Veteran's Affairs Medical Center from August 20, 2008, to January 31, 2018, were identified. Patients were placed into a large prostate planning target volume (LPTV) cohort if their prostate PTV was in the highest quartile.

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Objectives: Veliparib is a potent poly(ADP)-ribose polymerase (PARP) 1 and 2 inhibitor that impedes repair of DNA damage induced by cytotoxic and radiation therapies. This phase 1 study evaluated veliparib in combination with chemoradiotherapy in patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Materials And Methods: Patients received veliparib orally twice daily (BID) in escalating doses (60-240 mg, Day -3 to 1 day after last dose of radiation) combined with weekly carboplatin (area under the curve [AUC] 2 mg/mL/min), paclitaxel (45 mg/m), and daily radiation therapy (60 Gy in 30 fractions), followed by two cycles of veliparib (120-240 mg BID, Days -2 through 5 of each 21-day cycle), carboplatin (AUC 6 mg/mL/min, Day 1 of each cycle), and paclitaxel (200 mg/m, Day 1 of each cycle) consolidation.

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