Factors associated with complex oral treatment device usage in patients with head and neck cancer.

Purpose: The objective was to identify clinical and epidemiological factors associated with utilization of a complex oral treatment device (COTD), which may decrease toxicity in patients undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer (HNC).

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data from 1992 to 2013 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare databases to analyze COTD usage during intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for patients diagnosed with cancer of the tongue, floor of mouth, nasopharynx, tonsil, or oropharynx. Patients with a radiation simulation and complex treatment device code within 4 weeks before the first IMRT claim were identified as meeting COTD usage criteria.

Long-term economic value of hypofractionated prostate radiation: Secondary analysis of a randomized trial.

Purpose: Moderately hypofractionated intensity modulated radiation therapy (HIMRT) for prostate cancer shortens the treatment course while providing outcomes comparable with those of conventional intensity modulated radiation therapy (CIMRT). To determine the long-term economic value of HIMRT, including the costs of managing long-term radiation toxicities, a cost minimization analysis compared CIMRT with dose-escalated HIMRT using patient-level data from a randomized trial.

Methods And Materials: Men with localized prostate cancer were randomized to CIMRT (75.

Radiation modality use and cardiopulmonary mortality risk in elderly patients with esophageal cancer.

Background: It is currently unclear whether the superior normal organ-sparing effect of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) compared with 3-dimensional radiotherapy (3D) has a clinical impact on survival and cardiopulmonary mortality in patients with esophageal cancer (EC).

Methods: The authors identified 2553 patients aged > 65 years from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare and Texas Cancer Registry-Medicare databases who had nonmetastatic EC diagnosed between 2002 and 2009 and were treated with either 3D (2240 patients) or IMRT (313 patients) within 6 months of diagnosis. The outcomes of the 2 cohorts were compared using inverse probability of treatment weighting adjustment.